This week at the Seventy-Sixth World Health Assembly, I was proud to join PMNCH, as their oldest country partner and board overseer, to ensure the practical actions countries and partners can take to improve the health and rights of women, children and adolescents across the life-course with the urgency and priority it deserves. Prior to the public discussion on the PMNCH Partners Born Too Soon: Decade of Action on Preterm Birth, my bilateral with Executive Director, Helga Fogstad of Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, focused on the consensus building needed to promote the health and wellbeing of women, children and adolescents, based on the energy, evidence, data, practices and dialogue needed for every mother, baby and child to not only survive, but thrive throughout their life course. Deep discussions continued at the live PMNCH strategic event, Lives in the Balance: Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, featuring Bo Jacobsson, Co-Chair, MNCH workstream, Director, Maternal and Newborn Health, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Anshu Banerjee, Director, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, Joy Phumaphi, Co-chair, Partner Engagement in Countries Committee, PMNCH, Executive Secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, John Mangwiro, Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care, Zimbabwe, Martin Chungong, Secretary-General, Inter-parliamentary Union, Michele Sumilas, Assistant to the Administrator, Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning, USAID, Naoko Kozuki, Director, Research and Innovation for Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal Health, International Rescue Committee and Steven Lauwerier, Acting Director, Health, UNICEF. The Born Too Soon: Decade of Action report, recently launched at the first biennial International Maternal Newborn Health Conference, has equipped us with the latest learnings that must be replicated on a wider scale. One common theme that continues to arise is the vitality of concerted multi-stakeholder collaboration and cooperation that is necessary to advance this agenda.

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Partnerships Making a Difference. I am honoured to present my 2022 Global Office and Philanthropy Annual Report, a testament to our unwavering commitment to The Wellbeing Foundation Africa mission of improving health and wellbeing across Nigeria and the world, in alignment with achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, from birth to age. As we reflect on our year, it is crucial to acknowledge the prevailing challenges and the progress made in addressing them. As we progress, we are confronting the failures within health systems head-on. My Global Office and Philanthropy remains steadfast in its dedication to addressing the root causes of and improving the overall wellbeing of the most vulnerable populations. Through supporting the Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s innovative reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition programming, advocacy campaigns, and strategic partnerships, we have made significant inroads in equipping communities with knowledge, access to quality healthcare, and the tools needed. Ingrained in our decades of research, awareness and implementation, we look forward to advancing the promise, and meeting our global goals and targets. You can download my 2022 Annual Report or read it below.

According to the “Born Too Soon” report released by the United Nations agencies and partners recently, of every 10 babies born, 1 is preterm, and every 40 seconds, 1 of those babies dies. Produced by the WHO, UNICEF, in association with PMNCH - Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and LSTM - Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine News, Born too soon: decade of action on preterm birth, sounds the alarm on what is a silent emergency of preterm births, long under-recognized in its scale and severity, which is impeding progress in improving the health and survival of children around the world. As we commemorate the United Nations International Day of Families today, it is clear that action is needed urgently to improve the prevention of preterm birth, alongside better care for affected babies and their families, as preterm birth rates have not changed in any region in the world in the past decade, with 152 million vulnerable babies born too soon from 2010 to 2020. Preterm birth is now the leading cause of stillbirths and child deaths, accounting for more than 1 in 5 of all deaths of children occurring before their 5th birthday. Preterm survivors can face lifelong health consequences, with an increased likelihood of disability and developmental delays. My The Wellbeing Foundation Africa and WBFA Midwives can heartfully attest that too often, where babies are born determines if they survive. The gaping inequalities related to ethnicity, reach, income, and access to quality care, alongside the impacts of conflict and climate change determine the likelihood of preterm birth, death, and disability. Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the highest rates of preterm birth, and preterm babies in this region face the highest mortality risk, with only 1 in 10 preterm babies surviving in low-income countries, compared to more than 9 in 10 in high-income countries. By empowering our WBFA Midwives, we have witnessed first-hand through our Mamacare360 Programming that women who receive midwife-led continuity of care provided by professional and educated midwives, regulated to international standards are: 16% less likely to lose their baby and 24% less likely to experience preterm birth. The WBFA-Medela Cares Lactation and Human Milk Initiative for mothers of infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit programme is a strategic initiative built and scaled on evidence-based best practices aimed at improving the use of Own Mothers Milk in the NICU led by our WBFA midwives. Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival because breastmilk provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first months of life. Research has shown that 47% of the deaths of children under 5 years occur in the first 28 days of life, and these deaths are a result of preventable diseases that can be avoided through improved nutrition with the mother's milk. Yet, we still need a clear global agenda for action, which highlights country investment and healthcare worker and parent-led activism, to advocate for access to better care, policy change and more support. Measuring the impact of the WBFA and EWEC supported Every Newborn Action Plan 2014-2020, and the ongoing 2020-2025 WHO ENAP Agenda as IMNHC 2023 took place last week, I urge the health community to increase the mobilisation of resources, accelerate implementation, integrate across sectors, and drive local innovation and research.

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The Big Catch-Up on Vaccinations to ensure our world is fit for every child! As World Immunization Week 2023 begins, The UNICEF State of the World’s Children 2023, For Every Child, Vaccination Report highlights the collective action needed to protect people, and especially children, from vaccine-preventable diseases. We must now commit to the catch-up needed as millions of children during the pandemic missed out on vital vaccines, while we work to strengthen our primary health care systems to deliver the necessary immunization, emboldening happier and healthier communities that are protected. Immunization is one of the most impactful and cost-effective public health interventions available, and often brings children and families into contact with health systems, providing an opportunity for the delivery of other basic health services and laying the foundation for primary health care. Ensuring universal access to vaccines, creates a critical entry point for universal health coverage as well. 7 out of 10 children in Nigeria are not fully vaccinated by age two, with Nigeria being home to the second largest number of zero-dose children in the world. Nigeria must accelerate programming to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 3’s target of achieving more than 90% coverage of all basic vaccinations among children aged 12-23 months, and align the nation with WHO Global Vaccine Action Plan targets, as vaccine-preventable diseases like tuberculosis, measles and pneumonia continue to rank among the top killers of children under age five in the Global South. My The Wellbeing Foundation Africa implements exemplary community based and trusted programming, with strategic frontline investment in supporting robust universal immunization advocacy that reaches the most vulnerable, to expand access to vaccines to improve child health and survival. Through our flagship Mamacare360 programme, WBFA midwives address the importance of routine immunization to mothers, and the use of vaccines to protect their children, building trust and access to complete essential immunization, with the WBFA Universal Health Child Health Record Book serving as an immunization record, which improves immunization rates, building accountability and transparency. We are at a pivotal moment as we see the re-emergence of preventable diseases, and if we do not act now, millions of the world’s most vulnerable children will be left behind. Vaccination must be regarded as a national priority, as a national priority with multilateral support and global health diplomacy, as it protects not just an individual, but whole communities, laying the foundation to reach every person with the basic health services they need to thrive.

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It was a pleasure to attend the Launch of the WHO-UNICEF-JICA guide on Strengthening implementation of home-based records for maternal, newborn and child health, this afternoon! The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use of home-based records as a complement to facility-based records, to improve care seeking behaviours, men’s involvement and support in the household, maternal and child home care practices, infant and child feeding, and communication between health workers and women, parents and caregivers, so I am delighted that my The Wellbeing Foundation Africa in-country policy team are collaborating with national policymakers and the NPHCDA, Unicef, JICA and partners to validate Nigeria's Maternal and Child Handbook this week. Having initiated the WBFA IMNCH Personal Health Records©️ in 2006, and the WBFA RMNCAH Universal Health Records©️ and Maternal Notes in 2014, I am delighted by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) leadership and multilateral organisational stakeholdership that has grown to embrace the concept of The Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Handbook in Nigeria. Published for the first time in Japan in 1948, the MCH handbook is being developed and adapted around the world. MCH handbook programs have been introduced in more than 50 countries and areas to increase knowledge and change MCH related behaviour through strengthening communication between health professionals and mothers with children. It is also utilised as a basic tool for ensuring the quality of lives of mothers, children and families. Interestingly, child health records and growth charts were introduced in Nigeria at the Wesley Guild Hospital (WGH), Ilesa, in the old Western Region back in the 1950s and early 60s by Professor David Morley, whose survey of the population of Imesi-Ile village revealed that 450 children out of every 1000 was dying before the age of five years. A full longitudinal study was initiated and over the next 18 months all children born into the community were registered, and then followed with monthly checks for a full five years. A special ‘Under Fives Clinic’ was initiated with high protein weaning food introduced. Mothers kept the children’s records with less loss than for hospital based records; Grade II midwives were taught to deal with 90% of clinical needs and to refer to the other 10%. By 1960 outpatient attendance had reached 200 000 at WGH, 80% of whom were under 18 year olds. The first measles vaccine was trialled at Ilesa and Imesi-Ile in 1960 - and thus, the pioneering work at the local Imesi-Ile community revolutionised global child health. I look forward, along with partners, to the greater strengthening and implementation of home-based records for maternal newborn and child health in Nigeria, through the adoption and domestication of the WHO, Unicef and JICA Guide For Country Programme Managers.

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153 Midwives trained and counting… to save lives and improve a woman’s pregnancy experience! When I attended the Lagos State Health Services Commission Nursing Scientific Conference in July 2022, the desire for training opportunities was loud and clear, so I am delighted to witness The Wellbeing Foundation Africa Partnership with General Electric - GE Healthcare, continue our Sonology Training Program for Nigeria's Midwives on the Vscan handheld ultrasound machine at the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital today and tomorrow.  Based on WHO Antenatal Care recommendations, which aim to empower all women to access the type of person-centred Antenatal Care that they require and to provide a sound foundation for such care in accordance with a respectful and human rights-based approach, the training is the first time midwives and nurses in Lagos will be educated on the US machinery, further upskilling and developing the evidence-based practices and guidance to improve the quality of care provided to all mothers and babies throughout The Wellbeing Foundation Africa continuum of care.  It gives me great joy that The Wellbeing Foundation Africa is increasing access to training and medical equipment in Nigeria to empower safer births by engendering public sector midwives and nurses with the necessary knowledge and skills to utilise US machinery effectively. As national leaders in delivering a progressive antenatal intrapartum and postnatal care pathway, we are creating demand, as well as strengthening capacity, and providing a trusted community health centred approach daily to the early detection and subsequent diagnosis of women and neonates to minimise adverse complications throughout pregnancy.  A well trained and equipped healthcare worker delivering quality care to an informed and empowered mother is the difference between life and death. I appreciate the excellent stakeholder engagement with the Lagos State Health Services Commission, congratulate all attendees, and reconfirm the The Wellbeing Foundation Africa commitment to champion training, and empowering healthcare workers across Nigeria, to improve health outcomes for all. 

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It's great news to know, as the United Nations and global development partners mark World Chagas Disease Day today, that according to the latest WHO data published in 2020, total deaths by Chagas disease in Nigeria were 0 or 0.00%. The age-adjusted death rate is 0.00 per 100,000 population, ranking Nigeria #183 globally. In 2000, there were over 1.7 billion people worldwide affected by Chagas Disease (CD), a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) that affects over a billion people worldwide; therefore, it is imperative that its Time to integrate Chagas Disease into primary health care. People with Chagas Disease can be found anywhere in the world. However, the transmission of the disease through the bite of "kissing bugs" (vector-borne transmission) occurs only in the Americas, typically in rural areas of Mexico, Central America and South America. The disease can also transmit from mother to child during pregnancy or through blood transfusions and organ transplants. Fatigue, fever, swollen glands, and digestive disturbances are some of the symptoms of the disease. Neglected Tropical Disease (NTA) is described as a group of infectious diseases that are common in tropical and subtropical regions. They are caused by pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and toxins. These diseases are largely overlooked and underfunded, yet they cause significant illness, disability, and death. Chagas Disease is a Neglected Tropical Disease that is not entirely dissimilar to African Sleeping Sickness, which is also an NTA. Both Sleeping Sickness and Chagas Disease are infectious diseases caused by the same parasite - Trypanosoma. The parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is the cause of Chagas Disease, while Trypanosoma brucei gambiense causes Sleeping Sickness. These parasites live in animals and can transmit from person to person threatening millions of people around the world, including 36 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. Displacement of populations, war and poverty are also important factors that facilitate the transmission of the disease. As such, many people affected by the disease live in remote rural areas with limited access to adequate health services, complicating surveillance, diagnosis and treatment of cases. As I end this work week, I commend the dedication of every Wellbeing Foundation Africa State Project Team across Nigeria. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa programs are anchored through our flagship Mamacare360 Antenatal & Postnatal Program structure across Nigeria. Our Sokoto and Kano State Teams are making impactful progress in scaling up Zinc-LO-ORS treatments to reduce childhood diarrhoea in Northern Nigeria, supported by Nutritional International & the Government of Canada. The Lagos, Kwara, and Osun States Teams continue our WBFA Mamacare-Dettol Nigeria Hygiene Quest Programs in health care facilities, schools and communities across the FCT Abuja, Lagos and Kwara States, alongside our Osun and Cross River State Teams that continue Mamacare Maternity Programs.

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According to the World Bank, despite Nigerian women making up 49.32% of Nigeria’s population, nearly half, their numerical strength fails to impact the nation’s political life with female representation in decision-making being abysmally low since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999. Therefore, it is with great pride that I congratulate the 7 women winners of Senatorial seats and the 11 women elected into the House of Representatives, and the 4 women elected as Deputy Governors, along with women that won House of Assembly seats in their respective states. In December 2022, I was honoured, as a Steering Council Member of the African Womens Leaders Network both in Nigeria and globally, to join the like-minded and spirited women of #AWLN, a ground-breaking movement implemented with the support of the Office of the African Union Special Envoy on Women, Peace, and Security, and of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women UN Women, to promote the goals of increasing women's political participation and leadership aligned with the ElectHER movement of advancing the inclusion of women in politics, public life and ultimately achieving 51% women representation,  at the ElectHer Celebrating the Nigerian Spirit Ahead of 2023, Green Wine Green Gala, funded by the European Union, in the electoral run-up of the 2023 Nigeria elections where women made up only 8.9% of the total candidates. Notwithstanding the increased advocacy in the last four years for gender balance and more active female participation in politics, female representation in the 2023 polls is believed to be the worst, compared to the 2011, 2015 and 2019 general election statistics. Closer to home in Kwara however, the 2011 elections returned 6 women in the state house of assembly, 4 women in the 2015 state assembly, no women in the 2019 state assembly, despite an encouraging history of woman's representation which included 10 female local government chairpersons, 2 female senators, 3 female federal representatives, 3 female federal ministers and an ambassador during 2003 to 2019. 5 women have been elected to the Kwara state assembly in the recently concluded 2023 election, including 26-year-old Rukayat Shittu, one of the youngest candidates in Nigeria to contest and win a political seat. It is a great pleasure to also congratulate Madame Beatrice Eyong, UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria, on receiving the International Gender Champion Special Recognition Award at the Women in Maritime and Energy Awards 2023. With over 35 years professional working experience in promoting gender equality and women's empowerment, and within her role as Country Representative of UN Women Nigeria, Ms. Eyong has led a strong multi-sectoral approach to equity across private and public industries, efforts which are essential as Nigerian women continue to be underrepresented in elective offices. Despite the challenges women face, we must continue the gust of positive energy for women’s activism and advocacy, education of women, positivity on the part of successive governments towards women empowerment, and interest of women to participate in politics.

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Personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) help children and young people stay healthy, safe and prepared for life and work. When taught well, it is a necessary part of all pupils' education to help them achieve their academic potential. As the Millennium Development Goals era concluded in 2015, my The Wellbeing Foundation Africa ushered in the bold and ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. Adopting transformative and practical schools and visiting nursing delivery models in Nigeria to develop peer-education programming for primary and adolescents in personal, social and health education (PSHE), and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) knowledge and skills. Upscaled and boosted since 2022, through our impactful collaboration with, and support from, Reckitt, Dettol Nigeria and The Wellbeing Foundation Africa's (WBFA) Hygiene Quest curricula and programming, children at GJSS Gbagalape, GJSS Giri, GJSS Gwagwalada, Abuja, St Theresa Nursery and Primary School, Lagos, and Ita Aisha, Ilorin, amongst many other schools in the FCT Abuja, Lagos and Kwara states, receive weekly empowering, engaging and story-driven sessions. The Hygiene and Me module is split into two classroom topics, 'The Unseen World', which focuses on germs that cause illnesses and 'The Power of Clean Hands', which focuses on the best practices and importance of clean hands, impacting health, education, and development. By teaching our children and youth how to prevent the spread of germs through good personal hygiene habits and behaviours, we are building their understanding of hygiene, contributing towards our goal of reducing diarrhoea and keeping children and the environment in which they learn healthy and safe. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa's (WBFA) Primary & Adolescent School Nurses and Health Visitors are our Sanitation Angels. They include qualified nurses, midwives and coaches with specialist training in public health for children, young people and families. WBFA aims to reach 6 million children in Nigeria by 2025, contributing to the goal of reaching 100 million children globally by the end of 2026. They aim to achieve this through our grassroots work to deliver Clean Naija Commitments to improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), reduce the burden of diarrhoeal disease and open defecation by 2030.

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead As my Wellbeing Foundation Africa continues on its quest to globally contribute to achieving zero preventable maternal and neonatal deaths by 2030 through transformative approaches to health workforce education, training and skills, we gratefully and enthusiastically welcome the generous donation of eight Vscan portable handheld ultrasound machines from the Nigerian division of the global medical technology innovator, General Electric Healthcare, towards a mutual goal of increasing frontline midwives access to modern tools. I was proud to virtually join my Wellbeing Foundation Africa apex midwives and a cohort of Federal Capital Territory Abuja public health facility midwives and stakeholders today as we trained on the use of the Vscan wireless ultrasound systems at The Wellbeing Foundation Africa and UNFPA Gwagalada School of Nursing and Midwifery Skills Laboratory. This innovative technology is designed for primary health workers, including midwives, who work in remote rural settings to assess pregnancy risks early and help expand the reach of quality care to mothers who need it the most. Accessible and appropriate, the ultrasound machine is intuitive and reliable when on the ground, allowing our midwives to follow the WHO recommended one ultrasound scan before 24 weeks gestation to estimate gestational age, improve detection of foetal anomalies and multiple pregnancies, reduce the induction of labour for post-term pregnancy, and improve a woman’s pregnancy experience.  Most women in developed countries receive at least two ultrasound scans during pregnancy; however, in much of Africa, this type of procedure isn't as common, drastically impacting maternal and foetal health. In Nigeria, the lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, or after an abortion for a Nigerian woman is 1 in 22, compared to 1 in 4900 in developed countries, which have timely access to healthcare, including the preventative ultrasound system to detect any complications early on. Supporting the skilled deployment of these ultrasound machines will contribute to the Wellbeing Foundation Africa's progressive antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care pathway by enabling our midwives to easily image patients at the point of care, further transforming our Mamacare 360 community health-centred programming, which commits daily to the early detection and subsequent diagnosis of women and neonates to minimise adverse antenatal intrapartum and postnatal complications. A well trained and supported midwife delivering quality and respectful antenatal and postnatal maternity care and counsel to an informed and empowered mother is the difference between life and death. We appreciate and thank the Nigeria division of GE Healthcare for donating these ultrasound machines. The accelerated and optimised care and treatment will further strengthen maternal care in the region and minimise postnatal complications, delivering better health outcomes across Nigeria and emboldening the frontline and the family! 

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We all agree; Water Is The Foundation of Health! Co-Creating future programmatic actions is both my purpose and my passion, so I was honoured to be invited by our trusted The Wellbeing Foundation Africa partners Reckitt to highlight and share my insights on our collaborative WBFA and Dettol Nigeria Hygiene Quest programme and curricula, which is accelerating the uptake of long-lasting WASH habits in schools, healthcare facilities and communities across Nigeria, on the sidelines of the UN-Water Conference 2023 at the UN HQ in NYC last week. Taking place at the WBFA partner McCann Worldgroup Black Box, I joined moderator David Shukman, Former BBC Correspondent and Science Editor, Fan Zhang, Lead Economist and Global Lead for Water Economics and Climate Change at the World Bank, Rajash Sarin, Regional Director, Water.org, Professor Daniele Lantagne, Tufts University, and Rodrigo Belli, CEO of Agua Camelo to discuss how water is the foundation of health, with continuum being the key to healthy communities, from access to water and sanitation to hygiene and hygienic behaviours, and finally to better health outcomes. Straight afterwards at the UNHQ, it was great to catch up with Dominic O’Neill, Executive Director and Sue Coates, Deputy Executive Director, of my long-standing advocacy partners, The Sanitation and Hygiene Fund who are a transformative UN fund that is catalysing national sanitation economies across the African Union region, including in Nigeria which is a high priority country, to pave the way for climate resilience, gender equity and water security through innovative financing in WASH. Reflecting on the Water Conference and the adoption of the Water Action Agenda, representing voluntary commitments of nations and stakeholders, including those of my ECOSOC and Global Compact accredited The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, to achieve SDG6, it is evident that without enough water at the right time in the right quality, there is no sustainable development in any sector, leaving billions behind.

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A world where every child is wanted, every birth is safe, and every young person's potential is fulfilled! Last week at the United Nations, it was an honour to touchpoint with senior women leaders of the United Nations Population Fund, a multilateral development anchor partner of my The Wellbeing Foundation Africa. In my meetings with Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, on the sidelines of attending the UN Water Conference 2023 at the UN HQ in NYC with my WBFA Global Team, and with her colleagues Diene Keita, Deputy Executive Director for Programmes, and Mariarosa Cutillo, Chief of Strategic Partnerships, we reviewed the impact of our WBFA UNFPA facilitated environments where mothers and young people are empowered to achieve a high-quality of wellbeing, based on a holistic approach to progress for all. Through our WBFA UNFPA RMNCAH Nutrition International Leverage and Influence for Transformation NLIFT initiative, we pioneered integrative nutrition interventions into existing development platforms, becoming an Implementing Partner in 2018 with UNFPA to execute the MamaCare + Nutrition programme through our flagship MamaCare360. In 2019 WBFA joined Member States in making the historic commitment at the Nairobi Summit ICPD+25 convened by UNFPA, to accelerate the achievement of the three zeros by 2030: zero unmet need for contraception; zero preventable maternal deaths; and zero gender-based violence and harmful practices. Dr. Kanem, a champion for gender equality and for the health, rights, and wellbeing of women and girls presented me with the emblematic advocacy symbols of the Bodyright.me Campaign, and while together, we discussed the importance of imminently strengthening the connections between population, equity, comprehensive education and a prosperous world through investing in healthcare that prioritises women and girls, especially the most marginalised. Our work aspires to further the mission of a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. I look forward to the continued WBFA UNFPA joint efforts, as we aim to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

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Fighting Slavery’s Legacy of Racism Through Transformative Education, Partnerships For Recognition, Justice and Development. On International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, I am remembering the millions of Africans who were torn away from their families, deprived of their human rights and left with trauma spanning generations. The racist legacy of the transatlantic slave trade continues to reverberate today in harmful prejudices and beliefs that impact people of African descent across the world. As proclaimed by the General Assembly, the theme for the 2015-2024 International Decade is “People of African descent: recognition, justice and development.” In proclaiming this Decade, the international community is recognising that people of African descent represent a distinct group whose human rights must be promoted and protected. Around 200 million people identifying themselves as being of African descent live in the Americas. Many millions more live in other parts of the world, outside of the continent. As I attended various work engagements at the United Nations HQ in NYC this week, with the UN Water Conference 2023 taking place, it was clear that inequities emerge from the shadows of complacency, and that discrimination and hate speech are a plague of their own. We must not let down our guard in dismantling racism and prejudice. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s trusted partnership and work with UN ECOSOC, UN Global Compact, UNFPA, Every Woman Every Child, and African Womens Leaders Network, harnesses years of thought leadership and experience in programming for the needs of the most marginalised and disadvantaged, as we advance equity and social justice for people of Africa and African descent, and toward the fulfilment of human rights and dignity for all. Through recognising this period of history, we can help people see the world through an ethical lens and change the status quo, with transformative education being essential to the learning of slavery in order to end racism and injustice, and to build inclusive societies based on dignity and human rights.

At the Yale Club yesterday, it was a pleasure to engage with our Wellbeing Foundation Africa commitment partners, The United Nations and UN Global Compact, to mobilise the movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders to create the healthy and thriving world we want, on the sidelines of the UN Water Conference 2023, in New York City, hosted by Reckitt, World Wildlife Fund, Water Resilience Coalition, and the Government of Mexico. The public roundtable moderated by David Shukman formerly of BBC, and featuring David Croft of Reckitt, Sarah Davidson of World Wildlife, and Jim Andrew of PepsiCo focused on achieving water positivity, which complemented the Ambition for 100 Basins, and launch of the Business Leaders Open Call for Accelerating Action on Water, creating the space for those interested groups from businesses, civil society, to governments, to chart out next steps for how to move from commitment to concrete action. We discussed the importance of water conservation for businesses operating in water stressed areas, as companies can often face unique challenges to operating responsibly when on the ground, and must harness the opportunities to make a positive impact through understanding and learning the local lens. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa supports the ten principles of the UN Global Compact with respect to human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. With this pledge and through this initiative, we express our intent to support stakeholders, including the private sector and governments in their implementation of sustainable improvements to water, health, wellbeing, socioeconomic development and monitoring and evaluation practices in Nigeria and globally. It was good to learn from the parliamentarians of the Government of Mexico, and their incredibly important work on water. Together, we can achieve the key dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goal 6 including water quantity, quality, and accessibility by aligning our strategies and operations innovatively.

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Turning the Tide: A Call to Collective Action I was encouraged to see the sea change in how we value, manage and use water with the Global Commission on the Economics of Water at the United Nations HQ, with the collective call for action being led by H.E. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General WTO, H.E. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister, Government of Singapore, Prof. Dr. Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London, and Prof. Dr. Johan Rockström, Professor in Earth System Science at University of Potsdam in the presence of H.M. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and H.E. President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan. The seven-point Call to Collective Action provides a path that can be realised in the current decade; for how we govern, value and use water, from the local to the global, and open up major opportunities for innovation and investment, to enable more efficient, inclusive and sustainable use of water. It will enable the conversion of water to go from a growing global tragedy to immense global opportunity, to bring a new direction to policies and collaboration, ensuring that everyone has access to the water they need. Drawing on the wisdom, insights and diverse experience of the private and public sector, the Commission will continue to engage in societal dialogues worldwide over the next year and develop its ideas and proposals further with a final report, to be issued in 2024, aiming to complete the sustainability trilogy that began with the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change and the Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity. A great appreciation to Henk Ovink, Special Envoy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for Water, for his continued dedication in catalyzing this conference, as we discussed how a sustainable and just water future can be achieved, but we must treat water as what it is: our most precious global collective good, essential to protecting all ecosystems and all life, which rejuvenates our economies, benefits people everywhere, and unlocks progress in all our Sustainable Development Goals.

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Water Actions; the change we want to see in this world. Today on World Water Day 2023, I begin my engagements at the UN Water Conference at the United Nations HQ in New York City! This once-in-a-generation moment for the world to unite around water, with the last United Nations Water Conference being held 45 years ago in 1977, highlights the strong global commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, and the continued promise that everyone will have safely managed access to water and sanitation by 2030. The latest data states that governments must work on average four times faster to meet SDG 6 on time, but water and WASH is not a situation that any single actor or group can solve. According to the WHO and UNICEF 1.4 million people die annually and 74 million will have their lives shortened by diseases related to poor water, sanitation and hygiene and today, and almost half of the global population, 3.6 billion people, lack safe sanitation. Water affects all of us, and therefore we must all take action now. Joining our trusted The Wellbeing Foundation Africa partner Reckitt, and Starbucks, Ecolab, Gap Inc., DuPont with the U.S. Government, I welcome the nearly $150 million that the Water Equity Global Access Fund IV will be investing by mid-2023 with the goal of reaching 5 million people with access to water, sanitation and hygiene. I am delighted to focus on accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis, as dysfunction throughout the water cycle undermines progress on all major global issues, from health to hunger, gender equality to jobs, education to industry, and disasters to peace.

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Accelerating change; Interdisciplinary expertise can tackle complex problems. As I head to global engagements on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, my The Wellbeing Foundation Africa Frontline Programmes continue to provide timely access and leading optimal services to health, wellbeing and social care in 230 hospitals, 92 schools, and 100 communities, across 7 states in Nigeria, for all. On International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the urgency of combating racism and racial discrimination, based on a global set of common values and the acknowledgment that rights are inherent to every single human being, is core to the WBFA social work which aims to advance equality, combat racism, racial discrimination, and related intolerance through grassroots education and community behavioural change. As my Wellbeing Foundation Africa in Special Consultative Status to the United Nations ECOSOC advocates for the elimination of discrimination and embraces the need for equity, I am looking forward to attending this week’s United Nations Water Conference, and providing insight on advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular #SDG6 - ensuring access to water and sanitation for all WASH. Water is critical for the health and prosperity of people and the planet, and frontline feedback is essential in guiding global thought leadership which leads to the necessary programmatic actions on the ground. Together, we must harness this once-in-a-generation opportunity to accelerate progress towards universal access to safe water and sanitation by 2030 to mainstream hygiene as central to community and maternal health, while eliminating conditions that perpetuate discrimination.

Making history in Women's History Month, I was excited today, as we approach International Women's Day, to join my Wellbeing Foundation Africa anchor partners Reckitt Benckiser Group and Dettol Nigeria to celebrate the power of ‘women for health’ and launch the WiNFund. Health is something that connects us all but is tragically still not available to 50% of people across the world, yet daily I see the impact of our Wellbeing Foundation Africa's Hygiene Quest collaboration bring much needed health and hygiene practices to communities across 3 states of Nigeria, and hope to scale and spread this beneficial progress to more states. We know that women entrepreneurs create 35% better returns, yet less than 2% of VC investment goes to women. Old approaches have failed. Now is the time to disrupt this status quo. Improving access to healthcare will take new leaders, innovation and a virtuous community owned approach. I congratulate Reckitt and the Health Innovation Exchange - HIEx, along with Kofi Annan Foundation, Tokenproof and the Ecobank Foundation, who aim to impact availability of healthcare by championing the next generation of female health entrepreneurs in Africa by co-founding the Women in Innovation Fund (WiN FUND NFT) - a 100% non-profit that supports female-led health innovations with real-world impact, as 70% of the global healthcare workforce are women. The approach combines grassroots movements, tech innovation, and the expertise of frontline workers by using unique digital artwork NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to fund projects, build a community of mentors, health experts and innovators to help women-led social enterprises democratise access to health care, complimented by traditional funding routes. The first NFT collection, designed by Rwandan artist Christella Bijou, is now live, and we have received over 300 applications from women-led enterprises across seven nations in Africa, demonstrating the strong untapped potential of grassroots innovation! To learn more, you can join our community and show your support for women-led organisations through NFT HERE

Today, on Zero Discrimination Day, I am highlighting the need to ensure every human has the right to live a full and productive life, based in dignity, inclusion, compassion, and peace. Together with Africa REACH Leadership Council Members, as we took the bold step of launching our initiative to increase access to life-saving medication at the 36th AU Summit African Union in the margins of the 27th Ordinary General Assembly of the Organization of African First Ladies for Development, I conversed with UNAIDS Global Chief Winnie Byanyima, commending the focus of this year’s theme, Save lives: Decriminalise - emphasising the decriminalisation of key populations and people living with HIV, to save lives and help advance the end of the AIDS pandemic. As an Inaugural Africa REACH Board Member, and long-time advocate for the health and wellbeing of those living with HIV through The Wellbeing Foundation Africa Positive Lifeline and PMTCT programming, I continue to discourage criminal laws targeting those living with HIV as a violation of human rights, as it exacerbates the stigma and creates barriers in accessing the the support and services people need to protect their health. In 2021, United Nations member states including Nigeria made a commitment that by 2025 less than 10% of countries would have punitive legal and policy environments that affect the HIV response. Unfortunately, today, 134 countries still explicitly criminalise or prosecute HIV exposure, non-disclosure or transmission, furthering us from achieving this target and our Sustainable Development Goals. Unfairly, criminalisation of PLWHA increases vulnerability, driving discrimination and structural inequalities. Together, we must create a global movement of solidarity to end all forms of discrimination, and allow people the prospect of healthy and fulfilling lives, while working towards ending AIDS.

As women in global health from Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia, I joined Professor Flavia Senkubugeand and Dr. Choolwe Nkwemu Jacobs, to address the importance of gender-transformative leadership to bring much needed diversity in perspective and professional expertise as the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention faces a crucial milestone in selecting its next director-general. Women have a critical role as experts in the health systems they largely deliver, and provide valuable insight to gender responsive policies which achieve better health outcomes and tackle gender inequality in the health care sector, which undermines global health efforts. Therefore, together, as supporters of the Women in Global Health movement with 46 chapters worldwide, and the largest presence in Africa, we are calling on the African Union, Africa CDC, and its member states to consider women equally in all senior decision-making levels, as the African region has no shortage of talented women capable of taking on these important roles, including that of director-general. Read our full thoughts here.

On World Pulses Day 2023, I am encouraged that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) campaign highlights raising awareness of the importance of pulses in diets within Sub-Saharan Africa. Pulses such as dry peas, chickpeas, cow peas and lentils positively contribute to food security, nutrient dense diets, and have adapted to adverse climatic conditions, allowing them to grow resiliently and sustainably, providing healthier and productive lives. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa prioritises the nutritional status of children and women who are most vulnerable to malnutrition. Our WBFA frontline midwives encourage good nutrition every day, as the first defence against poor health outcomes, and aim to break the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition in communities, as the right to adequate food is universal for all. The production and consumption of pulses has transformed and diversified farming systems. Farmers can both sell and consume them, aiding in maintaining household food security and economic stability, while improving lives globally. It is rich in soluble fibre and high in protein, which can help control blood sugar, lower cholesterol, making it a recommended and accessible addition to diets by the WHO for the management of non-communicable diseases. Pulses can also thrive in water scarce environments, as they have a low water footprint and better tolerate drought and climate-related disasters, making them adaptable for agriculture livelihoods during shifts in weather patterns. The production of pulses of Africa increased from 5.11 million tonnes in 1972 to 22 million tonnes in 2021 growing at an average annual rate of 3.32%. We must prioritise advocating to, and collaborating with governments, and the private sector alongside the public and youth to support the education, production and consumption of pulses as part of sustainable food systems, healthy diets and to achieve the United Nations, The Global Goals, SDG 2.

As World Interfaith Harmony Week 2023 comes to a close, I am recognising the affirmative power of inter-religious dialogue based in mutual understanding and a culture of peace, to continue as a way to promote harmony, cooperation and goodwill between all, and at all times. Respect and dignity provide a platform which encourages the powerful movement of interfaith unity built on diversity, solidarity, tolerance and human dignity, World Interfaith Harmony Week 2023 exemplifies that our common values of, Love of God, Love of Good and Love of One’s Neighbour, far outweigh our differences. Governments, institutions and civil society such as my The Wellbeing Foundation must continue to prioritise various educational programmes and initiatives at the community level to build bridges across boundaries, and achieve the World Interfaith Harmony Week 2023 objectives of working together for gender equality, mental health, wellbeing, and environmental preservation.

My thoughts and prayers are with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and First Lady Emine Erdoğan, the Turkish Government and the people of Central and South-East Turkey, as well as the people and refugees of already vulnerable Northern Syria today, as they face the traumatic aftermath and damage of the devastating earthquakes this morning. First responders have commenced rescue efforts and calls for international assistance are underway. In times such as these, collective efforts, support and global unity is required. The WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesushas has immediately assured that the WHO network of emergency medical assistance has been promptly activated to provide essential care for the injured and most vulnerable. This response alongside those of national and international humanitarian agencies and organisations will be vital to provide sustained support at such a trying time. My condolences to the families who have lost loved ones, as I hope and pray that rescue efforts brace up with coordinated strength and fortitude for the difficult hours and days that lie ahead.      

International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation reminds us of the continued prevalence of this international violation of the human rights of girls and women, deep-rooted in inequality and discrimination, breaching their rights to health, security and integrity. According to UNICEF female genital mutilation continues to be on the rise among Nigerian girls aged 0-14, while accounting for the third highest number of women and girls who have been subjected to FGM globally. Over 68 million girls worldwide are estimated to be at risk of female genital mutilation during the 15-year plan to achieve the United Nations Global Goals SDGs, with 4.32 million in 2023 alone. As a UNFPA community stakeholder committed to the Nairobi Summit ICPD+25, WBFA aims to achieve; zero unmet needs for family planning and services, zero preventable maternal and infant deaths, zero sexual and gender-based violence including early and forced marriage, as well as female genital mutilation by advancing universal access to sexual and reproductive health, reinforcing the goal to end preventable maternal deaths. Our Wellbeing Foundation Africa's Mamacare360 Midwives work daily to protect the health, wellbeing, childhoods, education and ambitions of our girls and women, within the primary healthcare centres, households, schools and communities to engage families and focus on gender equality. Through safe space counselling during our Mamacare 360 programme, we are able to detect and support FGM survivors, and provide the opportunity to break the cycle by using education and awareness to urge mothers not to subject their daughters to this harmful practice. We must all continue to come together to accelerate our efforts to achieve a safe Nigeria for all, and eliminate this harmful practice completely. #EndFGM #MenEndFGM

A thankful Maternal Monday today, with the gladdening news of the safe delivery of triplets to a Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s Mamacare 360 Antenatal Classes family in Ilorin, Kwara State! When I founded the WBFA in 2004, it was to improve maternal, newborn and child survival outcomes in Kwara and Nigeria, and now in 2023 this delivery is a testimony to the carefully intersected and integrated program offerings we provide. From home-based health records empowering information and data, to every child-bearing woman receiving free and monthly educational midwifery maternity ANC care, to delivery by highly skilled health professionals trained in emergency obstetric care, to early and exclusive induction of lactation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with the expression and administration of buccal colostrum and opportunities for kangaroo care bonding, I am immensely appreciative for our decades long productive partnership with the General Hospital Ilorin, and the tertiary University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, and for the dedicated and diligent duties of our Wellbeing Foundation Africa Midwives and State Project Team. I hope and pray that father, mother and the babies continue to thrive, Amen. #Alaafia #AlaafiaKwara #KwaraWellbeing #CommittedToCaring  

On World Cancer Day, I am joining my Wellbeing Foundation Africa in advocating for comprehensive healthcare which prioritises cancer innovation, early detection, prevention, treatment and support to make the world a healthier place. According to the WHO, globally, nearly 1 in 6 deaths are due to cancer, with an estimated 70% of all cancer deaths occurring in the Global South, making it the leading cause of death worldwide. Though over 40% of all cancers are preventable, a lack of access to essential health services, healthier behaviours, regular screening, and cancer education and care means that many are denied a timely diagnosis and treatment - furthering the equity gap as most disadvantaged groups are also more likely to have increased exposures to a host of risk factors, like tobacco, an unhealthy diet or environmental hazards. According to my Wellbeing Foundation Africa and Amref Health Africa’s landmark 2018 Rapid Assessment of Cancer Care in Nigeria - which guided Nigeria’s policymakers in formulating National Cancer Strategy and Registries - the burden and trend of non-communicable diseases - including cancer - is on the increase in Nigeria. That is why myself and WBFA continue to bridge the gap, empower and support organisations and activations such as the LSTM News Co-Creation Workshop to identity the gaps, the needs, and barriers in Midwifery, Oncology and Mental Health nursing in Nigeria, the Marcelle Ruth Cancer Centre and Specialist Hospital, The Bricon Foundation, Medicaid Cancer Foundation and the Cancer Walk with WHO Nigeria, as we continue to work toward and emphasise the importance of achieving the UN, The Global Goals for Sustainable Development by 2030. With 19.3 million new cases of cancer this past year, each and every one of us can contribute to creating a health community that will make real progress in reducing the global impact of cancer; because change begins with a ripple and ends with a wave. #CloseTheCareGap #GlobalGoals  

Act now. Act together. Invest in Neglected Tropical Diseases.   World Neglected Tropical Disease Day brings heightened awareness to the need for immediate sustainable financing, and country accountability of #NTDs which are widespread in the developing world affecting the most vulnerable populations and regions, but are since controlled or eradicated in the developed world, to accelerate progress towards the World Health Organization NTD road map targets by 2030.   Though NTDs affect 1.7 billion people worldwide, and account for 57 million disability-adjusted life-years lost, the lack of awareness and concerted global action to tackle this diverse group of 20 conditions prevalent in tropical areas, disproportionately affecting women and children in impoverished communities have led to very little funding and international attention. These diseases, many of which are vector-borne, have animal reservoirs and complex life-cycles, making their public health control challenging, are “neglected” as they are almost always absent from the global health agenda and are associated with stigma and social exclusion.  Prevalent in areas where the understanding of #WASH, #nutrition and #onehealth are inadequate, these diseases of neglected populations perpetuate a cycle of poverty, poor health outcomes and limited economic opportunity. Nigeria is one of the most endemic countries in the world for NTDs, with an estimated 100 million people in the country at-risk for at least one NTD, and accounting for about 25% of the burden of NTDs in Africa.  Through my Wellbeing Foundation Africa programmes, we are #100PercentCommitted to beating NTDs; and in my advocacy withThe END Fund, I have witnessed firsthand how grassroots collective action and programming strengthen public health measures and disease surveillance, allowing for the upskilling of local health workers, accessible treatment, and community behavioural change to effectively control, eliminate and eradicate #NTDs.  The new World Health Organization progress report released, entitled “Global report on neglected tropical diseases 2023” highlights that we have the tools to save lives, prevent suffering and make 2023 the year to shine a spotlight on investing in universal care to end these diseases that are entirely preventable.  Equity in access, equity in care and equity in recognition are needed to #BeatNTDs.  

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It was a great privilege to host and introduce the WHO Foundation Health Emergencies: Stories from the Frontline of a Climate Crisis Reception with Anil Soni, Chief Executive Officer at WHO Foundation, joined by Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, Executive Chair, Sahel Consulting Agriculture & Nutrition, Emi Mahmoud, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Kamal Ahmed, Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder The News Movement, and Vanina Laurent-Ledu, President of the Foundation S - The Sanofi Collective, at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. Using the power of storytelling, and showcasing the talent, creativity, and innovation from two regions at the frontline of a health and climate crisis in the greater Horn of Africa and the Sahel, we explored the impact climate change has on global health, from starvation to disease.  As the WHO Foundation’s Inaugural Ambassador for Global Health, and Special Advisor, Independent Advisory Group, WHO Africa Regional Office, I aim to raise awareness and tackle the particular challenges Africa and Nigeria face in global health situations by using my experience and network to mobilise a key opportunity for private sector leadership and resource procurement.  I am supporting the WHO and its work on the ground as they increase the capacity of health workers, prevent the spread of disease, provide essential medicines and emergency nutrition, vaccinations, and set up mobile health centres for people forced to leave their homes.  Currently more  than 60 million people across 13 countries in the greater Horn of Africa and the Sahel face extreme hunger or are in need of life-saving assistance - some countries are facing the worst drought in a generation, while others are coping with dramatic flooding. The emergency is heightened across both regions by conflict and a sharp rise in global food and fuel prices, linked to the war in Ukraine. The situation is already dire and fast deteriorating. In my own country of Nigeria, many were displaced by devastating floods, and during that time Nigerians had no choice but to use floodwaters as drinking water, despite the risk of contracting diarrheal diseases, including cholera from contaminated water. At this moment nearly 1.5 million infants and children alone are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance and with 1.3 million people displaced - there is a growing and heightened risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition. WHO has responded by rapidly providing emergency health kits for 900,000 people, deploying mobile health teams that are delivering emergency nutrition, medicines, vaccines, and health care in many displacement camps with particular support for children, pregnant and lactating women.  Through supporting and advocating for the WHO Foundation’s Emergency Appeal for the greater Horn of Africa and the Sahel Regions, we can tackle this escalating crisis through collective and agile action, as WHO and its partners in the region must be empowered to respond immediately and comprehensively through various resources for the utmost impact. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa shares the WHO Foundation and WHO mission to ensure that health is for all, and that where you are born should not determine how you live. They exist to ensure that the resources and partners needed to achieve this mission are mobilised, assisting WHO to carry out life-saving work and supporting countries and communities around the world with climate-resilient healthcare. It is crucial we continue to amplify the inspiring voices of the people addressing injustice and affecting change in their communities, to improve the health and wellbeing of the people and places they love. Global health needs us all, from every country, to work as one. We must all dedicate ourselves to keeping the world safe, and advocate for the protection of the most vulnerable. By working together, we can change the lives of future generations.

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone else planted a tree long ago. - Warren Buffett This #ThrowbackThursday I am reflecting on the Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy in 2013, where I discussed the importance of purposeful giving, and how the actions of one person can make a difference in the outcome of many lives alongside Warren Buffet and Bill Gates. Reproductive health care, more than most issues, has been enormously shaped by individual billionaire philanthropists. Many of the critical breakthroughs in the field were philanthropy-funded, as are many basic services today around the world. Bill Gates, through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Warren Buffett, through the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation are two of the biggest philanthropists, and leading providers of access to contraception worldwide. The Gates Foundation empowers women and girls to take charge of their own health, enabling them to make informed decisions about family planning and have access to contraceptive options that meet their needs, to reach the longer-term goal of universal access to voluntary family planning. The Buffett Foundation is the leading provider of family planning access for poor women in the U.S, and the the most influential supporter of expanding access to and conducting research on the contraceptive. Philanthropy is essential for reproductive health care, as foundations, including my Wellbeing Foundation Africa can decentralise the definition and distribution of public health goods from the government, operate on a longer time scale than many businesses in the marketplace and elected officials in public institutions, and create frontline trusted programming which educate and influence community behavioural change to meet better health outcomes and achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. If you're in the luckiest one per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent. - Warren Buffett 📸📹: Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy, 2013

Healthy soils are the basis for healthy and nutritious food: it all starts in soils, where food begins! While at the recent #COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, I took the opportunity to update my knowledge of agriculture and food security at the first-ever food systems pavilion, and with the Islamic Development Bank, both who shined a spotlight on the foundation of life on land. The pavilion, and Adaptation and Agriculture Day at #AfricaCOP represented an extensive and important opportunity to ensure that the health of the planet’s soil, and with it, all the nutritional, ecosystem, and climate benefits soil provides is considered by policymakers in discussions, and led to a new United Nations agreement on a four-year plan and initiative aimed at scaling up finance to transform agriculture by 2030. Alongside this, in my discussions with Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, CEO of the Islamic Development Bank Group’s international trade financing arm, the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), and Acting CEO of the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), I was pleased to learn that since its inception, the Bank has approved a total of US$12.3 billion for investment projects in agriculture and rural development across its 57 member countries, including the Nigerian states of Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Imo, Cross River, Ogun, and Oyo, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with the ISDB and the Government of Nigeria recently signing a US$150 million financing agreement for a flagship project that provides extensive support to the country’s food security. As part of a mega co-financing effort for the launching of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) Project in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the project aims to support poverty alleviation, stimulate sustainable activities for low-income households, and enhance the competitiveness of the agriculture sector through the promotion of select value chains in the country. In addition to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), SAPZ Program will cover seven other states namely Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Imo, Cross River, Ogun, and Oyo, while the ISDB Project will cover FCT, Kano, and Kwara States, towards (i) development of infrastructure for 3 Agro-Industrial Processing Hubs (AIHs); (ii) 10 Agricultural Transformation Centers (ATCs); (iii) improvement of irrigated land & farm to market access roads; (iv) supply of certified agricultural inputs and extension services; (v) skills development for 10,000 farmers and MSMEs; and (vi) updating agro-industrial zone policy and establishment of a regulatory institution/special regulatory regime. Expected outcomes are: (i) increasing investments by private sector companies within the AIHs by US$375 million; (ii) creating 185,000 new jobs, including 50% for women and 50% for youth; (iii) increasing the yields of key crops by at least 50%; (iv) reducing post-harvest losses within the catchment area by at least 10-20%; and (v) increasing in the income of small producers/farmers by 25%. Once operational, the project will support inclusive and sustainable agro-industrial development and enhance the competitiveness of the agriculture sector through the promotion of select value chains. The Agriculture and Rural Development department develops and implements the Bank’s strategy, assistance framework, plan of action and work program in the agriculture and rural development sector. Its mission is to promote sustainable, inclusive, integrated and equitable agriculture and rural development that supports the modernization of food systems, enhances food security and increases the resilience of populations through efficient natural resources management, and increased productivity and connectivity. The Project will contribute to Nigeria's effort in achieving its SDG targets, specifically on the following: SDG1, SDG2, SDG5, SDG9, SDG12, SDG13 & SDG17. Nigeria became a member of the IsDB Group in 2005. The country is a key beneficiary of the IsDB financing in Africa with a total portfolio of approved operations amounting to US$ 1.8 billion. IsDB Group's financial support for Nigeria is diverse, covering broad sectors of the economy. Agriculture infrastructure projects account for 29 % of IsDB's financing for Nigeria, followed by health (18%), transportation (17%), and water (15%), among others. The Bank also has a solid pipeline of projects to be processed between 2022 and 2023. Over the last 70 years, the level of vitamins and nutrients in food has drastically decreased, and it is estimated that 2 billion people worldwide suffer from lack of micronutrients, known as #hiddenhunger, with about two-thirds of the world's population at risk of deficiency in one or more essential mineral elements. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa has long worked to combat nutrition deficiencies and educate families and communities through our historical Alive and Thrive and Mamacare+NLift iterations,, as well as current LOORS-Zinc programming because we know that impact in health and social development is most keenly felt and measured at the household level in improving daily nutrition and food security. This #WorldSoilDay2022, we must immediately take action to prevent and reverse nutrient imbalances in agri-food systems, as soil plays a key role in all four dimensions of food security: availability, access, utilisation and stability. #WorldSoilDay #Soils4Nutrition #MaternalMonday

Yesterday, I marked the 3rd Anniversary of the Nairobi Summit on the International Conference on Population and Development #ICPD25 with the National Population Commission  and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) under the theme “Sexual and Reproductive Justice as the Vehicle to Deliver the Nairobi Summit Commitments.” As the Nigeria Representative Member of the ICPD25 High Level Commission International Steering Committee and as UNFPA Nigeria Family Planning Champion, I was delighted to deliver a goodwill message and keynote presentation on the Wellbeing Foundation Africa 2019-2022 Progress Impact Report towards the 3 zeros of: zero unmet needs for family planning and services, zero preventable maternal and infant deaths, zero sexual and gender-based violence. I was pleased to join Mallam Isa Kwarra, Chairman National Population Commission, Ms Ulla Mueller, UNFPA Resident Representative, H.E. Sune Krogstrup, Denmark Ambassador, H.E. Samuel Mogere, Charges D'Affaires, Kenya High Commission, Ambassadors of Namibia and Madagascar, Mr Mathias Schmale, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Dr Ejike Orji, Chair, Association of Advancement For Family Planning, the National Youth Service Corps Representatives, and Representatives of the Honorable Ministers of Women Affairs, Health, and Sports and Youth Development respectively - in launching the National Action Plan for Nairobi Commitment, and the Launch of The High Level Commission 2022 Report on the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 Follow-Up. Alongside WBFA Programs Director Dr Franco Apiyanteide, I affirmed that the Wellbeing Foundation continues to prioritise the most amplified issues from the summit; having a global impact that advocates for women, children and families, through empowering and educating #frontline health workers while increasing accessibility to #healthcare, #SHRH and #WASH.

As International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women last Friday marked the launch of the United Nations UNiTE campaign led by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UNWomen, I commit to standing in solidarity and taking action this 16 days of activism in hopes to further prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls, call for global action to increase awareness, and create opportunities for discussion on solutions to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 5: gender equality and empower all women and girls. Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations today. For many women and girls in Nigeria, home, school and communities remain unsafe, despite violence in all forms being preventable. Almost one in three women aged 15-49 have experienced physical violence, with one in four girls, including very young ones, experiencing sexual violence, in Nigeria. The Wellbeing Africa Foundation is targeting this worrying data and trend through our various programming, by raising awareness, educating families and influencing positive community behavioural change. Our midwives and nurses promote a culture that does not tolerate any form of violence and break down the stigma attached to the social norms which allow this behaviour to go unspoken and unpunished. Through the safe, brave and supportive spaces WBFA creates, we are contributing to the fulfilment of women’s and girls’ human rights and to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Violence cuts across all generations, cultures, levels of education, income, religion and backgrounds. We must all join to act and ensure we leave no woman or girl behind by adopting adequate laws and legislation, addressing harmful gender norms, and providing comprehensive access to health resources and services for justice. Let us unite, take a stand, and raise our voices in support of women and girls’ rights. #16Days #OrangeTheWorld

Each of us has a choice about how we respond to the extraordinary times in which we find ourselves. Each of us can see differently, act differently, and change things for the better. Saying nothing and doing nothing is unacceptable as the courageous women and girls of Iran, their families and their allies are rightfully demanding their basic fundamental human rights. We can all stand in solidarity at this critical moment, joining leaders in the international community to vocally and unequivocally demonstrate support for women’s rights in the demand that the Islamic Republic of Iran is suspended from the @UnitedNations #CSW Commission on the Status for Women, a governing body that needs to maintain credibility for it to serve women and girls worldwide, until and when the rights of women and girls are restored, respected and upheld. The arc of the social justice universe is long, but can be extended to reach the guarantee for rights for women and girls everywhere. Be part of the unity of change; join me in signing this declaration. Woman. Life. Freedom. In solidarity with Iranian women and girls, today. bit.ly/IRIoffCSW #Zan #Zendegi #Azadi #WomenLifeFreedom #IRIoffCSW

In my Goodwill Statement to Africa Reach, on whose Leadership Council I am honoured to serve, I stated that "the milestone of Zimbabwe becoming the first African nation to approve injectable PrEP prophylaxis for HIV post-exposure infection prevention is a highly welcomed breakthrough moment. A truly significant step in the right direction in delivering accessible and equitable treatment and prevention, breaking down systemic barriers, and addressing the unmet needs of the HIV burden."

"Currently 90% of all children living with HIV globally are located in Africa, and nearly two thirds of all new cases of HIV occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, with women and the girl child in this region bearing the disproportionate load of the HIV epidemic. Each and every person deserves optimal treatment and the opportunity to live a healthy life to its full potential. I look forward to the positive impact of injectable PrEP for Africa and in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.”

Prevention remains one of the most important interventions in the HIV response, and I am grateful to join the Chair of Africa REACH, First Lady of Namibia Her Excellency Monica Geingos to expand and strengthen HIV programming across Africa as we advocate and work towards bringing the #PediatricAIDS conversation to the fore. The Africa REACH initiative brings together the most powerful elements of African political structures, cultural influence and generational leadership to create a new action agenda around ending AIDS in children and youth in Africa. As we fight to end the AIDS pandemic, I look forward to welcoming the long awaited advancement of injectable PrEP to Nigeria, where we have over an estimated 1.9 million people living with HIV and AIDs to ensure health and wellbeing for all.

I have noticed over the years that the spread of fake news tends to rise in Nigeria ahead of general election cycles, of which the next is expected to take place in 2023. While many journalists report that it can be difficult to verify information from prominent figures, that is no excuse for malicious fiction to be presented as fact. I was disappointed and perturbed this week, to learn that some unscrupulous politically motivated individuals and digitally networked elements were deliberately and maliciously circulating a sensationally lurid video virally across Nigerian messaging and multimedia platforms - defamatorily alleging that it depicted a member of my family - in a coordinated and totally false negative disinformation and misinformation publication campaign of particularly vicious virulence. Knowing without any shadow of a doubt, that no member of my family could ever engage in such unsavoury conduct, I must appreciate the calls, goodwill messages, prayers from sensible, reasonable and intelligent Nigerians, who have assured that they condemn and firmly discountenance this latest episode of a perplexingly obsessive negative campaign of lies and calumny. While the apparent subject of the video has been identified and confirmed as not being a member of my immediate family, I do still enjoin the appropriate agencies to vigorously investigate the provenance and defamatorily circulatory sources of the video, in order to signal a firm cease and desist caution to the agents of calumny, and their directors, who truly should be impelled to recognise the appalling dangers that false news, misinformation and disinformation pose to statecraft, human decency and the collective wellbeing of society and the nation. Many people have had incredibly dangerous lies published about them, and the best they could do was phone around to all their friends and well-wishers and assure them that the stories were completely false. As cybercriminals evolve, through the dishonourable nature of those who, in exchange for lucre, propagate false and unsavoury fiction, I do believe that it's critical to counter their past, present and probable future cyberthreat tactics.

Displaced by devastating floods, Nigerians are forced to use floodwater despite cholera risk - Climate emergencies are a humanitarian and health crisis which affect us all. As Nigeria experiences complex and unpredictable climate risks which have led to extreme weather events such as the flooding in 34 out of the 36 states in the country, the compounding of existing vulnerabilities and inequities is putting millions of our people at immediate risk for disease, famine and death. More than 2.5 million people in Nigeria are in urgent need of structured humanitarian assistance, 60% of which are children, and with 1.3 million people displaced, there is a growing and heightened risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition. The rise in cases of cholera is particularly worrisome as the WHO recently warned of the shortage of cholera vaccines, due to a strained global supply during a time of unprecedented rise in outbreaks worldwide, leading to the temporary suspension of the two-dose strategy. According to UNICEF’s Children's Climate Risk Index CCRI, Nigeria is now considered at 'extremely high risk' of the impacts of climate change, ranking second out of 163 countries. Children of 'extremely high risk' countries often face exposure to multiple climate and environmental shocks, paired with underlying child vulnerability, which my Wellbeing Foundation Africa midwives, nurses and healthcare teams are working daily on the frontline to mitigate by providing essential grassroots community-based Mamacare360 Maternity programming and intensified WASH services through our Reckitt, Dettol Nigeria, WBFA Hygiene Quest Curricula. The burden of climate-related health risks is inequitably and unequally distributed, and its worsening impacts are increasingly affecting the foundations and pillars of human health and wellbeing. Looking ahead, I welcome the African Summit which will be held alongside COP27 at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in November, to dedicate financing sustainable development projects from the three climate commissions of the African Union (Congo Basin, Sahel Region and Island States). Climate change is the biggest health threat facing humanity, and if we do not address it immediately and scale-up response and recovery, it will potentially undo the last fifty years of progress in development, global health, and poverty reduction, while severely jeopardising the realisation of Universal Health Coverage.

As the 2022 Progress Report on the Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent’s Health (2016-2030) is released, I am reminded of my personal efforts, and my Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s commitment and support for the initiative since 2011, that has guided, conceived, birthed and delivered so many impactful frontline programs, to protect the promise and protect the progress of the United Nations Global Strategy #EWEC. At this mid-point of actions towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development #SDGs, we face growing barriers and challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic destabilising access and availability of health services for nearly three years, a global climate emergency and various conflict zones - suddenly widening the gap of inequities that primarily impact the most vulnerable: women, children and adolescents, from maternal mortality to malnutrition. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa will continue to prioritise, sustaining health investments and programming, particularly primary healthcare systems, improving food supply, collaborating across sectors including partnerships with the private sector, and advocating for the protection and promotion of gender equality - to reach and safeguard the rights and wellbeing of every woman, child and young person while addressing losses and building concrete progress to ensure we create a world where all have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

As World Polio Day passed yesterday, I reflected on how through global unity and commitment we have achieved a 99.9% decrease in polio cases since the 1988 World Health Organisation landmark resolution for the worldwide eradication of polio that was adopted at the 41st World Health Assembly. In 2020 Africa was certified as free of indigenous wild polio, and while our progress is commendable, new outbreaks do continue to occur, reminding us that our efforts to deliver on the eradication of all forms of polio everywhere, is necessary, as until then no child is safe anywhere. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa is committed to the international cooperation needed to protect innocent children from diseases, particularly polio, and empowers our on the field health care workers, including WBFA midwives and nurses to administer and achieve this humanitarian goal. Trusted frontline advocacy and education is necessary to overcome vaccine hesitancy, lack of access and misinformation. I was encouraged to see the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s GPEI 2022-2026 Strategy highlighted at the 2022 World Health Summit earlier this month, and that the polio pledging event will fund the roadmap and strategy to a healthier world for all children and mothers. Going ‘beyond’ while we build on our current investments will ensure no other life is lost to a preventable disease, and that life-saving services will enable mothers to have a positive experience of their pregnancy and young children to achieve their full developmental potential. A big thank you to all the dedicated health care staff who safeguard every eligible child from polio, and continue to vaccinate despite significant challenges. 📸 At Lugbe PHC, Abuja, 2018 - I like to personally attend African Vaccination Week which takes place every year in April, at any of our Mamacare HCF locations when I can, to build confidence and trust for the oral polio vaccine.

During Breast Cancer Awareness month I am highlighting the importance of #frontline community midwifery to improve early detection and proactive behaviour against breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women worldwide, and in Nigeria, it accounts for 22.7% of all new cancer cases among women. In 2018,  the Wellbeing Foundation Africa undertook a whole-country Rapid Cancer Assessment Research and Report in collaboration with partners Amref Health Africa, supported by Takeda International of Japan, the findings of which were presented to the Federal Ministry of Health. As the statistics prove, cancer is a personal story for everyone. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa #midwives play a vital role through the trusting relationships they build with women and their superior knowledge and skills for recognising early signs. Through our midwifery-led MamaCare 360 Frontline Antenatal and Postnatal Education we reach women with the evidence-based self-care tools and practice to improve individual and family health outcomes. Earlier this year myself and the WBFA team welcomed Laura Nels, Director JNJ Community Health Africa, and LSTM Global Programs Director, Dr. Charles Ameh to Abuja and Lagos - engaging with the Federal Ministry of Health, LSTM, Medicaid Foundation, The Real Visionaries and Johnson & Johnson Global Health  and nationwide RMNCAH, Midwifery and Nursing Stakeholders at The Co-Creation Workshop: Understanding The Challenges and Gaps in Oncology Nursing, Mental Health Nursing and Midwifery Education In Nigeria. Together, we focused on building health workers’ capacity to provide specialised oncology services, midwifery, and mental health care, as it is essential to providing life-saving care to patients in healthcare facilities across Nigeria and to achieving SDG3.   WBFA endorses the holistic recommendations of the WHO Cancer Report calling upon governments to strengthen and invest in cancer services, including prevention, screening, building capacities in health systems, training and retraining of relevant health workers such as midwives and ensuring palliative care for all by further connecting Primary Health Care facilities and cancer centres. We may not cure breast cancer today, but we can contribute to the battle against it by bringing awareness and getting checked! #FrontlineFriday #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth

As I mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty today and reflect on World Food Day which took place yesterday, the message has never been clearer: no one should be left behind, and dignity for all must be achieved. The increase of interconnectedness through our globalised world represents a chain of attachment and impact which require the implementation of holistic solutions to develop long term inclusive resilience for food security, health systems and climate adaptation to ensure multidimensional poverty is addressed, and peace, protection of the planet and prosperity are sustainably established #SDGs. Since founding the Wellbeing Foundation Africa in 2004, we have worked to improve health and wellbeing outcomes through dedicated frontline health, nutrition and education programming and agrifood advocacy to combat malnutrition and tackle inequities, believing that to #feedthefuture and #GrowNigeria, every person deserves the opportunity to #thrive. Around the world, families are suffering the domino effects of challenges that know no borders, with the consequences of COVID-19, inequality, conflict, and the climate crisis, such as the current Nigeria floods - an overwhelming disaster that is ruining the agriculture and natural resources needed for the survival of many. With the extreme rains in Nigeria leaving 600 killed and 1 million more displaced, global solidarity is immediately needed to build a sustainable world where everyone, everywhere has regular access to enough nutritious food, and that we deliver on our commitments to social justice, ending poverty, healing our planet and the empowerment of the marginalised. It is our shared responsibility to eradicate poverty, combat all forms of discrimination and prioritise the right of all people to food, nutrition and equality with dignity for all in practice. #EndPoverty #IDEP2022 #GlobalGoals  

 

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I am delighted today to welcome our health, education, water, climate and environment partners and national stakeholders at the commencement of our new community of healthy hygiene practice at national scale. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa partnership with Reckitt and Dettol Nigeria, in progression of our Clean Nigeria Initiative Commitments endorsed by the Ministry of Water Resources, is pleased to announce the launch of our Hygiene Quest Project, a comprehensive hygiene curriculum and strategic programme designed to promote and implement proper handwashing and water sanitation and hygiene techniques, including reducing open defecation in schools, healthcare facilities across our #Mamacare360 Antenatal and Postnatal Maternity Centres, and corresponding Cluster Communities through Abuja, Lagos and Kwara States. As we commence this important project, currently 23% of the Nigerian population still practices open defecation, with less than 8% of the population in Nigeria being able to access and practice safe handwashing. Therefore our interactive and engaging approach aims to tackle these challenges sustainably through grassroots core education, access and training. Escalating and cascading our shared efforts ahead of Global Handwashing Day this week, our union for universal hand hygiene is accelerating the Hygiene Quest outcome and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, while journeying to reach 6 million children in Nigeria by 2025. Handwashing is an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa looks forward to scaling access to quality personal social health and hygiene education and information in schools, communities and within healthcare facilities, with Reckitt and Dettol Nigeria through Hygiene Quest, to drive lasting community behavioral change, and create a healthier and more equitable society for all. Data: UNICEF Water, Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping Report, WASH Norm 2021 #WashforWellbeing💦 #SDG2030#UniteforUniversalHandHygiene #WashYourHands#HandHygieneForAll

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At #WISH2022 I had the privilege to participate in timely discussions regarding mental health and wellbeing, while assessing the implications of the pandemic. Today on #WorldMentalHealthDay, and with the evidence-based research from WISH Qatar and the Qatar Foundation, we have a powerful opportunity to revitalize our efforts to protect and improve mental health for all. #Mentalhealth does not discriminate and requires investment in financing, training, policy and legislation, research and advocacy. Speaking to H.H. Sayyida Basma Al Said, Founder Serenity Muscat, we must raise awareness and take action to build the capacity for health, education and social protection, particularly in early childhood development, and ensure the resources not only exist but are accessible. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa targets public standards for promotion, prevention, treatment and wellbeing policies for childbearing women and their families through our HCF, schools and communities based Mamacare360 Maternity and Primary & Adolescent #PSHE #WASH programming which provide opportunities for safe space conversations, and referrals, with our professional midwives, nurses and coaches. As I continue to advocate for rights-based, multisectoral legislation, plans and policies, I dearly wish that Presidential Assent for the Nigeria #MentalHealthBill will soon be forthcoming, especially as it is believed over 40% of Nigerians are suffering in silence. As this barrier to accessing mental health services remains a challenge compounded by cases of post traumatic stress compounded by the ongoing instability and insecurity in regions due to insurgency, kidnapping and attacks; now is the time to strengthen mental health care provisions and protections, through a community-based network of accessible, affordable and quality services and supports. We must deepen the value and commitment we give to mental health as individuals, communities and governments, and work with stakeholders to create a world in which everyone has an equal opportunity to enjoy mental health.

This week I have been delighted to join the World Innovation Summit for Health 2022, an initiative of the Qatar Foundation, held in Doha this year, as a speaker, moderator and participant. Born through the need to convene global experts to look for collaborative and innovative solutions to tackle global health challenges – WISH Qatar and the Qatar Foundation are inspiring drivers of change, dedicated to uplifting community development for all, established and invested in evidence-based ideas and practice. As a moderator, I had the pleasure of joining H.E. Jeannette Kagame – First Lady, Rwanda, H.E. Fatima Maada Bio – First Lady, Sierra Leone, and H.E. Vivian Torrij – Former First Lady, Panama, for an invigorating conversation on Child and Maternal Health which assessed the global efforts on reducing maternal mortality and newborn deaths, to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, through collaborative scientific research, trusted frontline work, and policy reform. As a panellist, I had the great opportunity of Promoting Child Wellbeing: Lessons from COVID-19 alongside H.H. Sayyida Basma Al Said, Founder, Whispers of Serenity Clinic, Oman Professor Muhammad Waqar Azeem, Inaugural Chair of Psychiatry/Child Psychiatry Sidra Medicine, Victoria Hornby, CEO, Mental Health Innovations, UK and Moderated by Luisa Baldini of BBC. We discussed in-depth the long-term psychosocial and mental health implications for our children and adolescents due to the disruption of the pandemic, and how we can mitigate and address the adverse effects of the pandemic and draw out lessons for policymakers across the globe. We must embolden our children, while we catalyse investment, from health literacy, programming and policy to begin and protect from birth to age, addressing their unique needs and resources at every phase in life.

Happy #IndependenceDay! 🇳🇬 Today marks the 62nd anniversary of Nigeria's proclamation of independence from British rule on 1 October 1960. In 1914, the Southern Nigeria Protectorate was combined with the Northern Nigeria Protectorate to create the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, which has the borders of modern-day Nigeria. By the late 1950s, the call for independence of territories in Africa, and the affirmation of the Nigeria Independence Bill at the House of Commons on 15 July 1960 led to Nigeria being granted independence on 1 October 1960 as the Federation of Nigeria. Three years later, the constitution was amended and the country was declared the Federal Republic of Nigeria with Nnamdi Azikiwe, previously Governor-General, as the first President. On this historic day in 1960, Lieutenant David Ejoor, who later became the Chief of Army Staff, had the honor of commanding the guard at the midnight flag raising ceremony. On 1st October 1960 #Nigeria entered its new status of independence, not after commotion and strife as some other colonial territories had done, but rather after practical experience of the federal system which we decided to adopt, and with general agreement, to maintain, wishing to be independent and to be democratic and also incorporated into our Constitution a carefully drawn up Bill of Rights. Nigeria willingly accepted a Parliamentary system with reasonable and natural adaptations to our own traditions, including, as an essential part of parliamentary democracy, that there should always be a respected and vigorous opposition, freely and fully entitled to express their point of view. Let's renew our vision with replenished hopes and prayers for Nigeria, the most populous nation in the continent of Africa's extraordinary diversity and unity in race, in religion and in social and economic development.

Transformative solutions to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. #UNGA has consistently been the principal multilateral diplomatic setting for global cooperation from climate goals, to health equity, but as inequality worsens, exemplified by the repression of women from Ukraine to Iran; it is clear that the impacts of crises are never gender-neutral, and that there is still much to be achieved regarding women and girls recovery, resilience and representation. Preventing and ending violence against women and girls while improving equity require women’s leadership, prompt pledges and direct resources devoted to achieving a sustainable future where all women and girls are safe with opportunity. Therefore I am grateful that the newly created United Nations General Assembly Platform of Women Leaders is now established to place gender equality at the forefront of this multilateral arena. As the 77th United Nations General Assembly comes to a close, I appreciate my Global Office’s attendance, as my full executive and representative emissaries, a delegation that is strengthening collaborations and work with longstanding allies and taking part in complex and timely deliberations, which inform our humanitarian agenda for the coming year. As we face interlocking challenges, it is crucial for the woman and girl child perspective to be prioritised effectively, decisively and inclusively, and in the Decade of Action, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa is committed to achieving #SDG4 and advocating for the human rights of women and girls around the world, as we embolden them, improve access to services, strengthen laws and policies, to ensure accountability and transparency.    

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September 2022: Youth-driven design and research nonprofit YLabs and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in partnership with the Wellbeing Foundation Africa announced the Children, Cities, and Climate Action Lab (CCC Action Lab) commitment at the Clinton Global Initiative’s September 2022 meeting in New York City. In further collaboration with, C40, and Urban Better, the CCC Action Lab is an initiative to accelerate healthy decarbonization in cities through youth leadership and action. The world is currently on track for catastrophic levels of warming that threaten to undermine the health of people everywhere, especially amongst the most vulnerable. 

• There are 6.7M estimated annual deaths due to air pollution and air pollution kills more children annually than malaria and diarrhea combined (Lancet, 2022).
• Nearly 60% of the world’s population live in cities today, which will increase to 70% of 2050.
• African cities are urbanizing most quickly, with 90% of the projected global urban growth between 2021-50 occurring. 
• Many cities with severe climate change vulnerabilities also have the largest youth populations, who are rarely given a seat at the policy table to advocate for their futures in a changing world.
• Cities’ carbon consumption drives both the global climate crisis (an estimated 70% of emissions come from cities) and a localized health crisis for urban residents, in the form of air pollution.

There is a critical opportunity to embed human health and climate considerations into how these cities grow. Young people’s voices and ideas need to shape the current dialogue, policy, and, most importantly, action. Working in target cities across Nigeria, the CCC Action Lab will:

• Conduct cutting-edge modelling of the health benefits of decarbonization in each city and massive real-time social media surveys of young people’s experience of urban environmental hazards, building on CCC Action Lab’s Phase 1 research;
• Conduct participatory workshops with young leaders and parents to harness youth voices and action in advocacy to city/national governments and set a course for action;
• Provide evidence-driven, targeted technical assistance to focal cities that have demonstrated commitment to taking concrete regulatory and policy actions toward decarbonization and healthier urban environments. 

By putting young people in the lead, and with cutting-edge data as the fuel, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa and CCC Action Lab will help ensure cities are livable, breathable places for everyone.  Media Contact: Zelia Bukhari, Global Health Advocacy and Communications Manager, Her Excellency Toyin Saraki’s Global Office  Email: zelia.bukhari@wbfafrica.org 

100 years of working towards a world where every childbearing woman has access to a midwife's care for herself and her newborn! As the Inaugural Global Goodwill Ambassador of the International Confederation of Midwives for two terms (2014-2020) I am thrilled to celebrate with #ICM as they mark their 100-year anniversary alongside the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York City. My Global Office Delegation attended the Centennial Commemoration and were elated to discuss and highlight the key achievements of #midwifery this past century, connect with incredible health partners and aid in developing the vision for the next 100 years. Addressing the unmet needs of women and their families must remain a constant priority, and my Wellbeing Foundation Africa Foundation will continue to empower our #frontline #midwives so they may efficiently #access, #educate, #counsel and #care for #mothers as trusted community health workers. #ThriveThursday #UNGA77

 

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End racism. Build peace. 
 As I mark #PeaceDay, I commend the UN Peacekeeping call to strengthen the ideals of peace to build communities where all are afforded equity and the opportunity to thrive. Persistent injustice due to bias, discrimination and racism hinders fundamental human rights, perpetuates unrest, undermining democracy. My Global Office is addressing this escalating crisis and pursuing peace at the 77th United Nations General Assembly this week, as they attend the Concordia Annual Summit and Devex #UNGA77 Halfway to 2030 today, advocating for the rights and dignity of people while building a practical pathway to a fairer world #SDGs. Inspired by the words of #flotus, the First Lady of the United States, Dr Jill Biden at the #ConcordiaSummit, and as direct conflict and animosity destabilize societies across the globe, with health and economic challenges surging, we must convene to dismantle the systemic barriers which hinder our progress towards equality, empathy and a peaceful planet as we are all connected.

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The Power of Collective Collaboration: Transformative Solutions and Education for Change From the #frontlines to global impact, my teams are building solutions and transforming education. Yesterday, my Global Office continued my commitments at the 77th United Nations General Assembly, engaging with MIT Solve as social impact leaders, while my Kwara Office is advocating with Chevening FCDO to create an educated future; a Wellbeing Foundation Africa commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals progress. With a mission to drive innovation to solve pressing world challenges, I am honoured to be an MIT Solve judge for Equitable Health Systems. Positively affecting over 150 million lives to date, affordable, accessible, and high-quality health systems must serve all equitably. My Global Office shared their expertise on people-centred health infrastructure, from the ground up, mentoring Solvers and supporting innovative partnerships to improve health outcomes. This continued empowerment of transformation for the better took place on the ground today as well, as the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Kwara Office & British Deputy High Commission Courtesy Call to discuss the Chevening Scholarships Programme with Mr. Wale Adebajo, Political Advisor British High Commission in Nigeria, and the Chevening team as they introduce the program to Kwara State. Through our programmatic community work which has been supported by the High Commission and British Development Agencies over decades, we have expanded the opportunity to access learning skills, mobilising and elevating emerging Nigerian leaders. By solving together, we can tackle the issues of our rapidly changing world, promote education, and learn to live together sustainably.

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As the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly opened on Tuesday, I welcomed the words and targets of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opening remarks at the first full offline meeting since the pandemic's onset, calling for solidarity among member states to address common challenges, such as ensuring equity in healthcare. Global health and emergency response are a priority, as all Member States accelerate equitable progress toward implementing Universal Health Coverage by 2030 #UHC2030, to create a safer, fairer and healthier world. By demonstrating unity and solidarity, we can build new partnerships, share best practices and save lives. With frontline-focused dedication, integrity and authentic purpose, my global team will continue the multilateral discussions at #UNGA across the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations. I look forward to the key decisions which will advance peace, human rights and sustainable development for all. #FrontlineFriday #ConcordiaSummit #WHOFoundation #PMNCH #ClintonFoundation #BusinessFightsPoverty #SDGAction #unitednations

 

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Today on World Suicide Prevention Day #WSPD, I commend the efforts of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and WHO in focusing attention on reducing stigma, raising awareness, and implementing support to prevent the rise of this serious global health concern. The profound grief and impact of this crisis affects the wellbeing of humanity, with an estimated 703,000 people a year taking their own lives around the world, and for every suicide, a likely 20 other people making an attempt, with many more having serious and dangerous thoughts. Through well-informed action, we can create supportive safe spaces which aim to inspire confidence and the light of hope in all ages. Suicide prevention is a priority public health agenda, especially as we aim to expand evidence-based programming and advocate for the accessibility of mental health services. I hope this is a reminder that there is always an alternative, and that together we can all create hope through action and #bethelight. #WorldSuicidePreventionDay

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Inclusive, equitable and quality education is a human right which must be protected. On this International Day to Protect Education from Attack, and as International #LiteracyDay took place yesterday, I am highlighting the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity, and education to be safeguarded particularly for children and youth in conflict zones who remain among the most vulnerable. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa aims to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #SDG 4, and Safe School Declaration to secure a sustainable future and create a healthy society by implementing #frontline intervention through our Adolescent #PSHE #WASH programming which emphasises the role schools play in providing a safe space for children, where they can be protected from threats and crises, from conflict to health. Education and literacy are essential skills that save lives. Governments, private sector agencies, and humanitarian organisations must partner to provide secure and feasible measures to ensure access to safe education is rarely impeded. Only then can these transformed literacy learning spaces begin to break the cycle of inequality, hostility and poverty. #FrontlineFriday 📸 #FlashbackFriday Wellbeing Africa Schools Furniture, Textbooks and Learning Materials Empowerment Program Donations To 32 Primary and Secondary Schools in Kwara State, 2007.

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It is with the greatest sadness that I learn of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen was a true and sovereign inspiration, the embodiment of unwavering duty, who truly exemplified the highest form of courage. Her powerful influence, ruling for longer than any other Monarch in British history has created an immeasurable impact which continuously rings true to the noble motto “I Serve”. As a young woman, I recall meeting Her Majesty and being enchanted by her devotion, passion and care for all. The example and continuity she set as a profoundly respected leader will be deeply missed, but I know her legacy will set a high benchmark for monarchic service and continue to embolden future generations. My thoughts and prayers are with people across the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, and may Almighty God strengthen and comfort the Royal Family during this solemn and distinguished hour. “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” Her Majesty The Queen, on her 21st Birthday, 1947

Today I had the pleasure of joining the 13th International Conference on the Maternal Child Health Handbook, alongside Her Imperial Highness Crown Princess Akishino, WHO Special Advisor to the Director General, Prof. Peter Singer, Prof. Miriam Khamadi Were, UNICEF, UNFPA, healthcare, policymakers and research representatives from Nigeria, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Ghana, to mention a few, with a focus on promoting health equity and making mothers feel like visible primary partners in their and their child's health journey. Since 2006, when the WBFA committed its efforts to the development and deployment of home-based health records and handbooks in Nigeria and Africa, we have tenaciously held to the mission that accurate and accessible health information both educates, guides and delivers measurable benefits for every woman, child and family. The #MCH Handbook is a home-based health record and information tool which supports women throughout their pregnancy, delivery, and postnatal period, extending to the first few years of the child's life. Introduced in more than 30 countries already, by empowering parents through being an accessible source of information, the handbook bridges communications gaps between them and health professionals, emboldening them to be actively involved in the decision-making and management of their family’s health. A very intense sharing and learning experience, the conference is a powerful affirmation of the core vision of my Wellbeing Foundation Africa mission from inception. Ensuring the continuity of care and providing health education to families leads to social cohesion and holistic maternal and child care which is highly effective as prevention and protection. I look forward to continuing to discuss, strategise and champion the immediate prioritisation of attainable and equitable maternal care as the conference continues tomorrow, and I thank today’s moderator Dr. Shafi Bhuiyan MBBS, MPH, MBA, PhD and Prof. Yasuhide Nakamura for their organisation and guidance throughout the day! #MakingMeVisible #DallaLanaSchoolofPublicHealth #UofT

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Yesterday on International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, as the world reflected on the tragedy of the slave trade, I am remembering and honoring those who campaigned for freedom and defied the cruelty of oppression. Sadly, modern slavery still persists, with transatlantic trafficking continuing to have a profound impact on the lived experiences of vulnerable communities across the globe. Slavery was and still is a violation of #HumanRights, resulting in brutal labour, sexual and inhumane exploitation, and an enduring pernicious legacy of racism. The concept of equal and unconditional dignity can only be achieved universally once the deconstruction of racism takes place, particularly with the younger generation, liberating themselves and future generations from the prejudicial ignorance and constructions of the past. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa advocates and teaches through our Adolescent and #PSHE #WASH programming the importance of developing a social and emotional sense of values, respectful dialogue, peaceful tolerance, and mutual understanding which combats all forms of discrimination, including those based on gender. We take every opportunity to help our youth to understand Africa’s history, learn about the destructive effects of colonisation, and make the connection between the slave trade and the widespread discrimination and racism that characterises today’s society. Collective intergenerational efforts to fight injustice is essential to dismantle political, economic and structural power imbalances rooted in enslavement which still deny equality of opportunity. Let us work together to inspire every generation to build societies based on integrity and solidarity, so that we can bring an end to modern slavery. #TeenageTuesday #WASHWednesday

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“No violence can be justified in the name of religion.” - Pope Francis As this new week begins with the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief, I totally agree that upholding peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of association, especially to strengthen democracy and combat intolerance is an important mission for us all. Interdependent, interrelated and mutually reinforcing, the open, constructive and respectful discussion of interfaith and intercultural expression and dialogue is a human right. As acts of violence increase towards religious communities and minorities globally, we must immediately condemn, provide victims with the appropriate support and assistance, work together to enhance the implementation of existing legal regimes to protect individuals and increase efforts to expand human rights education. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa, through our grassroots advocacy and frontline programming, is an intentional and strategic #ForceForGood and is #CommittedToCaring, by promoting #FreedomOfReligionOrBelief, as enshrined in article 18 of the Universal Declaration of #HumanRights @UN, and facilitating empowering and considerate dialogue between various groups. Today serves as a reminder of the need to protect the infrangible right of religious freedom and the consequences when a country fails to do so. Let us vow to do better and create societies that are free from violence. #ToyinSaraki #Alaafia #Wellbeing #MaternalMonday

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Just as it takes a village to raise a child, we must collectively come together to support those facing humanitarian crises. As we face record-high humanitarian needs around the world this World Humanitarian Day #WHD2022, it is with deep gratitude that I recognize and praise the dedication of essential frontline staff, who deliver lifesaving assistance without hesitation each day. I am honoured to thank our various Wellbeing Foundation Africa partner stakeholders and governmental organizations such as UNHCR, UNFPA, UNDP, UNEP and stand for the safety and security of humanitarian workers and for principled humanitarian action. As Inaugural Global Health Ambassador of WHO Foundation, I echo the need for our global health community and private sector partners to power health emergency preparedness to reach true health equity. #Ittakesavillage to support people in need, and health-care workers, including the WBFA #midwives #nurses #doctors and #staff are central to humanitarian action. They go wherever vulnerable people are. 📸 Adagom Refugee Resettlement Community, Cross River State, Nigeria 2021 #FrontlineFriday #WorldHumanitarianDay

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I started the working week with a timely meeting of essentially glad tidings in conversation with UN Women Nigeria Representative, Madame Beatrice Ekong, convened by AWLN Chair, Professor Funmi J. Para-Mallam mni, focusing clearly on the continued and future impact of inclusivity, empowerment, local ownership and integrity for women and girls across the continent. It was a pleasure to join the like-minded and spirited women of the African Women Leaders Network Nigeria Steering Council, a ground-breaking movement implemented with the support of the Office of the African Union Special Envoy on Women, Peace, and Security, and of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women UN Women. In line with the Africa Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the AWLN Nigeria Chapter discussed the vision of the “Africa We Want”, one where women and girls are supported to reach their rightful roles in all spheres of life. Working together through our network of over 200 diverse women leaders in media, politics, diplomatic corps, academics, research, civil society, private sector, young women, rural women and women in the diaspora, our targeted aim toward development, governance, peace and stability, economic empowerment and women's access to finance directly aid in achieving #SDG Goal 5. Empowering women and girls and achieving gender equality are crucial to my Wellbeing Foundation Africa's safe childbirth and safer childhood targets as we work towards improving social determinants, creating inclusive, open, prosperous and healthy societies. Together, with the AWLN, and in support of the delivering as One UN approach, our active engagement and advocacy aspire to share resources, opportunities, solidarity, and partnership for mobilisation of an equitable future. #GenerationEquality    

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Today on International Youth Day 2022, myself and the Wellbeing Foundation Africa are reiterating and amplifying our commitment to taking action and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals across all generations to ensure no one is left behind. Intergenerational solidarity is essential for the positive and progressive development of society, especially as the bias of ageism continues to go unaddressed in health and human rights, leading to a lack of fulfilled potential. Reflecting on the Global Report on Ageism launched by the United Nations in March 2021, our youth continue to face adversity and barriers across employment, political participation, health and justice. The key to shaping these spheres to be accessible and brave spaces will manifest from an engaged and productive intergenerational intervention strategy, increasing the strength and unity to achieve #SDGs for all. With a sustained focus and mission anchored primarily on the successful delivery of goals 3, 5 and 6, good health and wellbeing, gender equality and #WASH, WBFA frontline programming educates, empowers, and advocates for open communication and community and social connectedness across all ages, young and old alike. We encourage the joining of forces, collaboration and fight against discrimination in hopes of an equitable and inclusive future that listens to elders while including youth at the table. Let’s aim to build back better by leveraging all generations’ wisdom, knowledge and lived experiences.  

 

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I am honoured to be invited by UNDP to lend my voice to, advocate for, and champion #ImagineNigeria. As the Imagine Nigeria Report, which presents the findings of a multi-stakeholder foresight exercise led by the UNDP, launches today at the State House, Abuja, I am envisioning a Nigeria where we collectively work together to create a progressive, prosperous and peaceful nation. Imagine Nigeria considers the multiple pathways in which Nigeria can further develop in the promise of a flourishing and bright future. With over 300 participants from all regions of Nigeria and the diaspora, who put in over 6,000 hours of consultation, research, analysis and scenario-building processes, the report aims to now mobilise various stakeholders globally for action. As our world rapidly changes from technology to urbanisation, and faces challenges such as the pandemic, it is time to act quickly and act together. Through assessing trends, Imagine Nigeria shares four potential scenarios to shine a critical light on future uncertainties, and then recommends five pillars for advocacy and action, from now until 2050, to witness transformation and engender a new level of commitment and cooperation within Africa. Building trust is the key to a thriving Nigeria and must be the basis of all engagement, policy and operation. Through shared hope, values and commitments, we can create a new national narrative that builds a culture of innovation, catalyses the green economy, and leads Africa. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa and I look forward to continuing to facilitate this change, through empowering communities with the power to act, by sharing knowledge and resources to uplift Nigeria. #ImagineNigeriaChallenge

 

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As I mark International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, I am reminded of a young group I met in September 2019 when I honoured the invitation of the Independent Midwives Association of Namibia, and also of the efforts and aspirations of a young traditional cultural dance group I met at the United Nations headquarters in New York that same year. These encounters exemplified the role of indigenous women and girls in the preservation and transmission of traditional knowledge, particularly when it comes to health and societal wellbeing. Indigenous knowledge in the sphere of health, often first present as traditional birth attendants, who aim to fill the gap of inadequate or completely absent public services. From providing their communities with essential information on sexual and reproductive rights to #GBV, generations of indigenous women have passed down critical skills and practices to help mitigate the effects of inaccessible healthcare. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa and I aim to empower indigenous women and girls with training and modern practices to shape the evolution of trusted traditional wisdom with modern techniques being applied for good. The transmission of ancestral knowledge and advocacy which takes place as the carers of society are crucial, but we must also equip these knowledge keepers, leaders and human rights defenders with contemporary education, #WASH, and autonomy to combat harmful traditional practices, and tackle the rise of intersecting levels of discrimination based on gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. At home in Nigeria, our WBFA community midwives continue to work towards achieving the #SDG2030 Goals and WHO Global Targets 2025, to improve maternal, infant and young child health outcomes, while viewing wellbeing as both an individual and a collective right, strongly determined by community, land and the natural environment, as conceptualised by indigenous peoples. We must acknowledge, strengthen and support indigenous midwifery through healthy policy and integration while creating opportunities for upskilling and reskilling. Let’s reclaim the role of these heroines! #IndigenousPeoplesDay #TeenageTuesday    

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In a first-ever-in-Nigeria pioneer partnership project, and aligned with the society pillar of Medela Cares, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa #frontline heroes, midwives and doctors are improving the #breastfeeding support offered to new mothers in Nigeria, by delivering NICU-specific education and training on the value of human milk and how to build sufficient milk supply for long-term lactation and breastfeeding. As committed members of the United Nations Every Woman Every Child Initiative, together we aim to drive change and improve health outcomes for generations to come. Research has shown that 47% of the deaths of children under 5 years occur in the first 28 days of life, and these deaths are a result of preventable diseases that can be avoided through improved nutrition with the mother's milk. Collaboratively, my Wellbeing Foundation Africa through our #midwives have introduced, and continue to deploy, educate and facilitate the use of Medela Cares lactation strategy and tools by leading training sessions for healthcare workers and mothers, in the 3 focal project states of Lagos, Kwara and Abuja; supporting the timely initiation of breastmilk expression, improved the capacity of use of breast pumps within facilities, promoted exclusive breastfeeding and maintenance to empower mothers to nurture their babies through optimal nutrition. Mother’s Own Milk is essential, and the lactation care provided to mothers must acknowledge its importance of it to ultimately improve infant feeding and health outcomes in Nigeria. #WBW2022 #WorldBreastfeedingWeek

#Breastfeeding provides food security to infants from the very beginning of life, promoting overall family health and wellbeing. #Nutrition is essential to #nurturing, and is linked to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, contributing to global maternal and infant survival. Breastfeeding is an essential part of good nutrition, food security and reduction of inequalities, and through engaging with valued partners along the #warmchain, my  Wellbeing Foundation Africa is strengthening the capacity for transformative change and equality. Placing the mother-baby dyad at the core of our programming and development ensures an optimal level of continuum of care, and that mothers are empowered with a more fulfilling and effective breastfeeding experience. WBFA’s Mamacare+N, is a maternal, newborn and child health service, with a focus on women and girls, supported by our forward thinking partners UNFPA, UNFPA Nigeria and Nutrition International, encompassed key interventions and access in family planning, iron and folic acid supplementation, and nutritional advice, as they mutually reinforce each and contribute to ending intergenerational cycles of poor health and poverty. From drawing up strategies for the protection, promotion and support of nutrition from and during breastfeeding, including monitoring and evaluation to inform national analysis, targets and policy, we must acknowledge that #breastisbest!  

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It is well proven that breast milk is the optimal source of nutrition for babies, yet the long-term benefits are lesser known. Associated with healthier adolescents, #breastfeeding for 6 months or longer, compared to less than 6 months or not at all, has shown improved cognitive performance, socio-affective responding and physical wellbeing from childhood into adolescence. In other words, healthy, happy, breastfed babies create healthier and more productive teenagers. To empower early childhood development through improved nutrition starting with early and exclusive breastfeeding, my Wellbeing Foundation Africa has executed strategic public-private and philanthropic investments to improve breastfeeding across Nigeria. Between 2017 and 2020, the WBFA Alive and Thrive, McCann Health, FHI360 and Gates Foundation consortium promoted appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding #IYCF, and encouraged optimal breastfeeding practices at over 370 private medical facilities in Lagos and Kaduna States. Our #Mamacare360 Midwifery-led #ANC #PNC programme continues to promote early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding, providing the lactation support required for mothers and healthcare facilities across Nigeria, activating and actualising the WHO and UNICEF’s Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative's "Ten Steps For Successful Breastfeeding" in order to support mothers and newborns. These steps highlights the support which the mother needs while the support healthcare and hospitals should provide to all mothers and their newborns after birth. As we work to achieve a world where breastfeeding is the cultural norm and where mothers and families are enabled to feed and care optimally for their infants and children, let us continue to amplify and reflect on how breastfeeding contributes to a brighter and better healthy society for years to come. #WBW2022 #TeenageTuesday #WorldBreastFeedingWeek2022

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As we celebrate a new month, with the beginning of #WorldBreastfeedingWeek2022 this #MaternalMonday, commemorating the Innocenti Declaration signing on the 1st of August 1990, we focus on protection, promotion and support of Breastfeeding. Since then and continuously progressing: WBFA and I prioritise the advancement, strengthening and maintenance of breastfeeding, by providing the universal right of Respectful Maternity Care #RMC, aligned with #SDG 3, ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all, through our Mamacare360 programme which improves maternal and infant survival, health and wellbeing throughout the antenatal, birth and postnatal periods. Our Wellbeing Foundation Africa Mamacare Baby Friendly Antenatal and Postnatal, which began in 2015, continues to reach mums daily in 8 states, while our Mamacare Digital Whatsapp keeps mums in contact with midwives as lactation counsellors across Nigeria. Each day we do more than advocate to step up education and support for breastfeeding by understanding, implementing and adhering to the World Health Organisation and UNICEF Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding, the WABA Global Warm Chain of Support for Breastfeeding and quality WBFA Mamacare360 #midwifery which was launched on World Breastfeeding Day 2011. Breast is always best. Let’s foster a cohesive breastfeeding movement and enable equitable environments for mothers and families to be empowered, to optimally, safely and actively breastfeed their baby. #WBW2022 #WarmChain #HappyNewMonth

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As our world becomes more globalised and connected through the expansion and use of technology, the atrocity of human trafficking has morphed and consumed our online platforms and cyberspace. On World Day Against Human Trafficking, I am highlighting how this horrific crime, which attacks the rights and safety of a person, is severely affecting women and girls, who already represent the mass of trafficked persons globally. From conflicts to climate change and particularly during the pandemic, we have seen the vulnerability and isolation of humanity. Being online was a haven for many, allowing them to connect with family and friends or continue their education. Yet, human traffickers have taken advantage of this time in cyber history by using sophisticated technology to identify, track, control, degrade and exploit victims. That is why my Wellbeing Foundation Africa has always emphasised the need for technology awareness, understanding, security, and education on this topic through our Adolescent Skills and Drill programme. As trusted frontline staff, we teach our youth internet safety to prevent and mitigate the risk of them falling victim online and transparently communicate the dangers they may face. Our WBFA #midwives continue to protect, support and are an ever dependable network for our youth to reach out to if they are uncertain or feel anxious regarding a cyber situation. Technology may enable human trafficking to a degree we have yet to fully fathom, but it can also be a critical tool in fighting against it. Through the collaboration and committed participation of governments, law enforcement, regulators, the private sector and civil society, we can invest in policies and innovative technology-based solutions to ensure a safe and secure space for all online. I look ahead to the United Nations Global Digital Compact at the 2023’s Summit of the Future, to standardise policy around good governance in the digital space. Our use of technology has great opportunity, we must harness its power, to protect our communities, and eradicate human trafficking. #EndHumanTrafficking

 

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We can’t wait to act on viral hepatitis, this #FrontlineFriday we must commit to bringing hepatitis care closer to primary health facilities and communities. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa and I are echoing the World Health Organization roadmap towards eliminating all types of hepatitis by #2030 and calling to end mother-to-child transmission of #HBV, which requires immediate action, investment, and the end of stigmatisation and discrimination. Nigeria has the highest prevalence of #hepatitis in Sub-Saharan Africa and is third globally, with over 20 million Nigerians infected, including an estimated 15% of pregnant women. A silent killer, often going undetected, means there are upwards of millions of more Nigerians who are unaware. WBFA through its flagship Mamacare360 programme aims to progress the prevention of mother-to-child transmission #PMTCT of hepatitis B and address the systemic barriers of access to essential, equitable, lifesaving care, by providing antenatal and postnatal care, sexual and reproductive health education, safe trusted spaces with our #midwife guidance to tackle topics such as screening, antiviral prophylaxis, infant vaccination, and aim to scale them up for the prevention of perinatal transmission of HBV infection in Nigeria. Diligently providing this integrated grassroots healthcare on the #frontlines ensures we empower and support mothers and communities to be primary partners in their wellbeing and in the elimination of #hepatitisB. With a person dying every 30 seconds from a hepatitis-related illness, we must act now to accelerate the fight and advocate for the importance of testing, treating and vaccinating. Immunisation and access to drugs are crucial; we must work together strategically and cooperatively from epidemiological considerations, availability of resources and political prioritisation to support the infrastructure for administration. Expectant mothers can’t wait for hepatitis screening and treatment, and newborn babies can’t wait for birth dose vaccination. #WorldHepatitisDay

 

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Systematically equitable and sustainable access to water and sanitation is an essential human right recognised by the United Nations, and ensures communities can be peaceful and resilient in the face of health and wellbeing risks and climate changes. My advocacy is committed to improving access to #WASH for the nearly one-third of Nigerian children who do not have enough water to meet their daily needs, with over 60 million people in Nigeria lacking access to a basic clean water supply. The most marginalised, women and girls, suffer disproportionately from inadequate water resources and WASH services, increasing the likelihood of #GBV and decreasing economic freedoms. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa is dedicated to Nigeria achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and strategically integrates #SDG 6: availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, through a results-oriented advocacy action plan that builds on our nation's situation analysis and context-specific indicators, with the progressive reduction and elimination of inequalities between communities at the forefront. We must make certain that water supply and infrastructure are clean, safe, affordable and socio-economically beneficial to all; this demands critical collaboration and co-investment at all levels of government, water providers, the private sector, and community-based organisations. By working together, we can guarantee a future where everyone can be water-rich.

 

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I was pleased to join H.E. First Lady of Lagos State, Dr Mrs Ibijoke Sanwoolu MBBS, PGDHM, MPH, MBA, and HRM Oba Kabiru Sotobi, The Ayangburen of Ikorodu, alongside the Honorable Commissioner For Health represented by Permanent Secretary Dr Olusegun Ogboye, Mrs Kemi Ogunyemi HSC Commissioner IV, and Lagos State Health Service Commission Nurses led by Director of Nursing Services, Mrs Adebukola Cole, as Special Guests of Honour at the 13th Annual Nurses Scientific Conference of Lagos, to advocate for the gaps found in the nursing profession in Nigeria while developing a road map toward further investment and secure global health.  Nurses and midwives constitute the majority of the global health workforce and the largest health care expenditure. Efficient production, successful deployment, and ongoing retention based on carefully constructed policies regarding the career opportunities of nurses, midwives, and other providers in health care systems are key to ensuring universal health coverage, as the World Health Organization estimates that an additional 9 million nurses and midwives are needed if the world is to achieve UHC by 2030. Yet, daily, nurses are constrained by practice regulations, workplaces, and career ladder barriers solely from contributing to primary health care delivery, and improving the lives of others. That is why together with our global partners and donors, during our implementation of our various programs such as Mamacare360 Community Midwifery Antenatal and Postnatal Education Program, EmONC upskilling for health workers, Medela Cares NICU Specific Lactation Support, Nutritional International LO-ORS Zinc to Combat Diarrheal Disease, we deliver a quadrupled dividend, to the health worker, health care facility, mother, and neonate, through improved health outcomes and empowerment while giving health care staff the opportunity to further their learning, training and education.   Combating the challenge of ensuring that nurses are assured of decent work, decent remuneration and a safe and dignified workplace is essential to the implementation and development of our programming and mission. Saving lives does not mean a nurse should risk her own. We hear constantly of nurses facing extreme adversities and barriers on the ground, from not only the lack of basic infrastructure and professional support to deliver high-quality care but to the lack of access to clean water and working spaces.  Health workers need clean water, adequate tools, equipment and medicine, to facilitate a safe and healthy delivery and support families’ health and hygiene needs across their lives. From health workers pulling buckets of water up from wells themselves, purchasing their own examination gloves, and digging makeshift pits themselves to dispose of medical waste, without access to WASH, and supplies and commodities needed to provide timely, high-quality care, our system will collapse. Effective supply chain management and procurement are needed so nurses can easily access life-saving medicines.  Positive and safe work environments are also a must, as the most trusted and engaged members of health care, and oftentimes sole point of access in rural communities, nurses must feel supported. At the workplace, there should be zero tolerance for sexual harassment and gender discrimination. Vertical segregation, where female health workers do not advance to higher leadership and remuneration as their male counterparts, needs to be addressed as it remains a challenge within primary health care and health systems.  To combat these hurdles, I believe there is a strong role for innovative multi-sector partnerships to play in helping accelerate progress towards security and investment in the health workforce and global health. The private and public sectors must collaborate with the local community and civil society, to improve the implementation and impact of the health workforce. The private sector plays an important role in most of the world’s health systems, from a mix of goods and services including direct provision of health services, medicines and medical products, and financial products, to training for the health workforce, information technology, and infrastructure and support services.  Investment into primary healthcare spaces, and in nursing-driven social care, is key to humanity's survival in the current century. By investing in healthcare and the health workforce, we are solidifying solutions for local communities. We must work towards a comprehensive community health paradigm that will decrease delays in healthcare, bridge gaps in service delivery, ensure the highest quality of care, and create an integrated facility that can provide dynamic and comprehensive medical interventions and education.  Private sector investment can also tackle the issues of the retainment of young professionals and women. Women comprise roughly 70% of the global health workforce and perform the majority of the sector’s most challenging, dangerous, and labour-intensive jobs. Yet they hold only 25% of the health sector’s senior roles and are rarely represented adequately. Instead, they are often expected to remain passive actors, quietly finding ways to do their jobs in difficult – even impossible – circumstances. Nurses are leaders, advocates and innovators. They are the largest, most trusted cadre of health workers and yet they have been largely overlooked and excluded from health policy discussions and investment decisions. As key players in health promotion and the backbone of healthcare systems worldwide, nurses work on the front lines as often the unsung heroes in health care facilities and emergency response.  Rebuilding and reinforcing every element of health care begins with investing in nurses for a secure global health future and is essential for resilient community health and wellbeing. We must urgently invest in nursing education and leadership training to improve recruitment, retention and respect within the nursing workforce. Based on the report by the World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and Nursing Now, I call on facilities and partners to increase funding to education and employ more nurses, strengthen the capacity to collect, analyse and act on data about the health workforce, monitor nurse mobility and migration and manage it responsibly and ethically educate and train nurses in the scientific, technological and sociological skills they need to drive progress in primary health care.  Despite the critical role they play in health care, there is a shortage of their voices at the table which must be addressed and strengthened on a Nation level. Therefore I am also calling for the establishment of leadership positions in government and development, we must ensure that nurses are allowed to fulfil their full potential, by improving working conditions through safe staffing levels, fair salaries, and respecting rights to occupational health and safety, implementing gender-sensitive nursing workforce policies, modernising professional nursing regulation by harmonising education and practice standards and using systems that can recognize and process nurses’ credentials globally. In my remarks, I deeply appreciated the Award Of Honour bestowed upon me in recognition of the WBFA's longstanding frontline programs at health facilities across Lagos State. I also took the opportunity to commend the Lagos State Health Commission's declared investments into primary healthcare spaces, and nursing-driven social care, to achieving #UHC, 2030 #SDGs, and solidify solutions for local communities. I pay tribute to nurses’ incredible work, professionalism, selflessness, courage, strength, and perseverance and express gratitude for their tireless efforts. Even in the face of exhaustion, stress, and physical and emotional trauma, nurses have inspired confidence and hope for the future. We must respect nurses’ rights and well-being to secure global health, and to do so we need massive investment in the acceleration of nursing education, creation of nursing jobs, and leadership. It is a fact that without nurses, midwives, and other health workers, countries cannot win the battle against outbreaks, or achieve universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals.  

 

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This Thrive Thursday, I reflect on the importance of Maternal, Infant and Young Child Feeding Nutrition to promote new norms around feeding practices among mothers and families, cultivate greater understanding around good nutrition-related behaviour and improve nutrition outcomes for children in the first 1000 days.  Early and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life is the single most important nutritional determinant for child survival. Yet, in Nigeria, where over 850,000 children under the age of five die each year, a majority of new mothers do not engage in optimal breastfeeding practices or provide a minimum acceptable diet and dietary diversity need. The loss of life, productivity, human capital, future economic benefits, and increased cost to heath systems at country, regional and global levels, call for immediate scaling up of financing and implementation of policies, programs and interventions to meet the WHO World Health Assembly’s Global Nutrition Target of ‘increasing the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months up to at least 50%’ by 2025, en route to the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals.  Nutrition is one of the most vital components of primary health care, and through an evidence-based framework and collaborative strategic approach my Wellbeing Foundation Africa partnership with Alive and Thrive, with the support of McCann Global Health, FHI360, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, emphasised optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices for infants and children, from birth to two years of age, and adequate nourishment and care for pregnant women. During the multi-year programme (2018-2020) our aim was to build momentum, break down barriers, support a better future for women and children, which was replicable and scalable across the nation, to save lives, prevent illness, and ensure healthy growth and development through optimal maternal nutrition, breastfeeding, and complementary feeding practices, changing Infant and Young Child Feeding behaviours.  Our outreach and cross-fertilization of the WBFA Alive and Thrive Infant and Young Child Feeding programme successfully reached over 200,000 antenatal care attendees, 120,000 mothers of children less than 2 years and 15,000 family members with an increased counselling content of facility healthcare workers in IYCF. To date, our Mamacare360 programme continues to work actively and consistently with all our partners to promote early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding, providing the lactation support required for mothers across Nigeria to sustainably continue as advised on the most recent American Academy of Paediatrics’ New Breastfeeding Recommendations for 2 years or beyond, with appropriate complementary foods introduced at about 6 months.  To further upskill our midwives, healthworkers, and inter-personal community interlocutors, ensuring they are empowered and engendered to build on the program’s success, independently and continuously, my Wellbeing Foundation Africa with the support of Laerdal Medical, donated state-of-the-art breastfeeding simulators to aid education and improve knowledge on the physical anatomy and physiology of lactation and breastfeeding so that our breastfeeding guardians may accelerate nutrition results for better health outcomes for women and their families in Nigeria. The breast is the shortest, most sustainable supply chain, and the smartest investment a country can make to build its future of prosperity.   

 

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I was delighted recently, to present the success stories of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa - Nutrition International 2021-2022 Intervention Partnership in Sokoto State to H.E. Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal. Zinc and low-osmolarity oral rehydration salts prevent child deaths due to diarrhoeal disease making the goal to end the loss of millions of young lives within our grasp.  That is why my Wellbeing Foundation Africa is proud to be partnered with ​​Nutrition International in Scaling up Zinc and LO-ORS to Improve Childhood Diarrhoea treatment in Northern Nigeria, specifically in Kano State and Sokoto State. The project, funded by the Government of Canada, and in partnership with the Ministries of Health, seeks to increase timely care-seeking and treatment of diarrhoea with zinc and low-osmolarity oral rehydration salts. Diarrhoea is a leading cause of malnutrition and death in children under the age of five, with the prevalence of childhood diarrhoea in Nigeria at 18.8%, accounting for an estimated 151,700 preventable deaths per year. Currently in Nigeria, only 26% of childhood diarrhoea cases are treated with oral rehydration salts solution, due to a lack of accessibility, availability and trust.  Through WBFA and Nutrition International increasing and sustaining availability and access to zinc and LO- ORS commodities by strengthening their Drug Revolving Fund #DRF schemes with strong governance, financial and supply chain management, and in united action with health systems strengthening, deploying dedicated midwifery and nursing workforce to reach community health care facilities and households, we are creating statewide behavioural change which deliver measurable improvements to the most vulnerable.  Our targeting of caregivers, with messages and visits from our community healthcare workers, promoting prompt care-seeking for children with diarrhoea, adherence to treatment with zinc and LO-ORS, and improvement in #sanitation and #hygiene has led the charge to curb the menace of diarrhoea.  In Sokoto, our successfully implemented first phase has increased the development and health and wellbeing across 8 Local Government Areas of the State. One of our success stories was with a year old baby girl who our Wellbeing Foundation Africa Sokoto State Project Implementation Team met at the Kofar Kade Primary Healthcare Centre as she had been stooling up to 4 times a day. Working with the in-facility staff to provide expert care, the WBFA-NI Team advised the caregiver to immediately discontinue the use of Flagyl and utilise Zinc/LO-ORS for the treatment. The WBFA-NI Team Midwife then educated the caregiver on the preparation of the Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) and Salt Sugar Solution (SSS), advised her on adherence to the stipulated duration, and stressed the need for the environment where the family resides to always be kept clean in line with #WASH. A follow-up visit by the Project Implementation Team was made to the house of the caregiver. During this visit, the team observed that the baby’s health condition had improved significantly. However, the team concluded that poor hygiene and sanitation within the household was the cause of the recurring case of diarrhoea within the family. Our midwife went on to further advise the best environment and personal hygiene practices.  Through a cohesive approach which combines the critical services and interventions needed to create healthy environments, promotes practices known to protect children from diarrhoea and ensures that every child has access to proven and appropriate preventive and treatment measures, we can facilitate Nigeria embracing and reaching the #SDG Target 3.2, Newborn and Child mortality: end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age by 2030, and the World Health Organization informed mission to achieve universal access to clean water and basic sanitation, which are the primary preventive measures in reducing the burden of diarrhoea.  Safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are essential for stopping preventable deaths across Nigeria, as good health and wellbeing are simply not possible without #WASH. With an integrated approach, using a combination of the cost-effective zinc and LO-ORS co-packs, safe drinking water, basic sanitation, exclusive breastfeeding, and improved nutrition, we can dramatically reduce diarrhoea in Nigeria. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa looks forward to continuing the lifesaving and life-enhancing programming with Nutritional International for those who need it the most. 

As the Kigali Summit took place yesterday to urgently increase investments and commitments critical to ending malaria and neglected tropical diseases, I am calling on all world leaders to unlock the potential of smart partnerships to conquer malaria, reduce the burden of NTD's and build a healthier better world for us all.  Incredible progress over the last two decades proves that ending malaria and NTDs is an achievable goal. Investment in the fight through the Global Fund has led to 10.6 million lives saved and prevented 1.7 billion malaria cases. To date, 46 countries have eliminated at least one NTD and 600 million people no longer require treatment for NTDs.  Yet, we still need renewed investments made by Presidents, Prime Ministers, CEOs, philanthropists, scientific experts, global influencers and community champions to save more lives, drive economic growth and support health systems to detect and respond to emerging diseases in a timely manner. We are currently at a crucial time in the fight against malaria.  I acknowledge the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA), a groundbreaking coalition of African Union Heads of State and Government, working towards eliminating malaria by 2030 with various partners in their advocacy for data-driven decision-making, transparency, accountability and action on malaria, child and maternal health, NTDs and nutrition.   Countries around the world must pledge financial support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to help ensure that the world stays on track to end all three epidemics within a generation, to build strong national health systems to better respond to emerging pandemics.  My Wellbeing Foundation Africa has witnessed time and time again, how malaria and NTDs continue to multiply in areas of poverty, afflicting the lives and livelihoods of billions of people. We cannot allow half the world to continue to suffer from preventable and treatable diseases.  I am thrilled to echo Dr Tedros’ announcement regarding the launch of my dear sister and former mentors namesake Dr Mwele Malecela Mentorship Programme to develop women leaders to beat NTDs. Dr Malecela was the Director of the WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, and an inspirational figure to all in global health. I recall her mentorship alongside Global Water in 2020, which aided WBFA in our uptake of WASH. I continue on in her memory, through my advocacy with the The End Fund, while re-affirming my commitment to sustainable, inclusive and collaborative action. The Kigali Summit is a historic opportunity to End Malaria and Beat NTDs. Let us make history and be a part of the generation that ends malaria for good. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa and I endorse the Kigali Declaration and will continue to advocate for mobilising a fully resourced Global Fund Replenishment to End Malaria. We must take action now - zero malaria starts with us all!  

 

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Food safety is everyone's business, let's create lasting change! On World Food Safety Day, I am proud to join SDG 2030 to discuss how safer food, leads to better health and how we can collectively achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Amplifying and mobilising action to prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks and improve human health is essential to public health. Food safety and security are two complementing elements of our sustainable future, and necessary for an equitable world. As we become increasingly interconnected, glocal citizens need to choose safe foods and #foodsafety for our one people and our only one planet. Women and girls are vulnerable at all levels of food safety, from availability, access, utilisation and stability. They suffer the most from macro- and micronutrient deficiencies, especially during the reproductive years. Through my Wellbeing Foundation Africa Mamacare360 program and Adolescents PSHE WASH program, we provide the knowledge mothers, adolescents, children and families need to alter food consumption for improved nutrition, as we are what we eat. From engaging with families and involving children in food safety activities to promote safe food handling and WASH, following the World Health Organization Five Keys to Safer Food Advocating, to advocating for low-carbon and resource-efficient sustainable food and farming systems to nurture the health of our people and our planet, food safety is everyone's business, at home, in workplaces, at schools, markets, and for food vendors. Thank you, SDG 2030, for having me today. WBFA and I continue to actively work toward achieving the SDG 2030 goals, at home in Nigeria, and through advocacy across the globe, as we must preserve people's opportunities to live in dignity and prosperity across generations.  

 

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On United Nations Global Day of Parents, I am celebrating and appreciating all the parents throughout the world, and emphasising the importance of healthy families to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Parents play the most critical role in the rearing of a child, from nurture to protection. A lifelong role as anchors of the family, and the foundation of communities and social progress, health and wellbeing practices often stem from parents and the environment they construct. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa aims to implement, support and motivate the sustained changes needed to improve family health in Nigeria. Our WBFA midwives, through our Mamacare360 program, better position our mothers to promote quality safe parenting for the full and harmonious development of their child. Our Sanitation Angels are on a mission to minimise any preventable negative health consequences, by being the community leaders of sanitation and hygiene, advocating for the right to WASH as a family habit and activity. Through our grassroots collective action, we are providing the tools parents need to catalyse and address their health and wellbeing needs, empowering them to be the primary model, educator, and influencer of family health outcomes, benefiting future generations to come. It is necessary we enhance awareness amongst decision-makers and the public of the effective ways of meeting family needs to further invest in one nation, one health.

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Unfortunately for global health outcomes, tobacco product use begins and is primarily established during adolescent years. Today, on World No Tobacco Day, I invite you to join me in amplifying the World Health Organization commitment to raise awareness on the harmful and deadly effects of tobacco use in all forms, second-hand smoke exposure, alongside this years 2022 global campaign ‘Tobacco: Threat to our environment’. Tobacco has major implications for the health and wellbeing of smokers, non-smokers, and our environment. The industry’s effort to youthfully modernise tobacco use, to the greenwash marketing of its reputation by falsely advertising as environmentally friendly, is detrimental to our rising generation. Infants exposed in-utero to tobacco smoke toxins, through maternal smoking or maternal exposure to second-hand smoke, frequently experience reduced lung growth and function - with an estimated 60,000 children dying before the age of 5. Teenagers exposed to second-hand smoke are at risk of the onset and exacerbation of asthma, pneumonia and bronchitis, and frequent lower respiratory infections. Those who live on into adulthood continue to suffer the health consequences of exposure. At my Wellbeing Foundation Africa, we prioritise facilitating ‘taboo’ conversations between our frontline staff, midwives and adolescents early on during our Adolescent PSHE WASH program, creating inclusive safe spaces where they are empowered to build their autonomy to address topics like tobacco and substance abuse with their peers, families and communities - extending the effects and learnings beyond the program. WBFA responds to the tobacco epidemic through not only education and advocacy, but by the full organisational implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and by adopting the MPOWER measures in our own policy development. Lung and environmental health is essential to achieving overall health and wellbeing. In order to achieve the SDG targets of a one-third reduction in NCD premature mortality, and to protect the planet from degradation by 2030, tobacco control and elimination must be prioritised by all.

Today on Children’s Day 2022 I reimagine a better future for every child, because from birth to adulthood, #everychildcounts.  No child should ever be left behind. For 15 years, the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015) were a guiding force on many issues affecting the lives of children, young people and their families. During this time, I established Alaafia in 2004, a Wellbeing Foundation Africa initiative which promoted and positively impacted the health and wellbeing of women and children, families and communities in Kwara State.  Guided to engender and empower key strategies and solutions towards achieving progress in the key measurable indices set out by the 2015 Millennium Development Goals, we made tremendous progress in reducing preventable child deaths, getting more children into schools, creating accessible spaces for children's growth and enjoyment such as the Kwara children’s playground and childhood disability donations, while ensuring more families had access to safe water and nutrition education, earning the Unicef accolade of a state #FitForAChild in 2010. Today, the WBFA's nationwide program interventions and initiatives continue to be guided by the targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Working with our partner, Nutrition International in Sokoto and Kano States, we are currently in the second phase of implementing the Scaling Up Zinc and LO-ORS to Improve Childhood Diarrhoea Treatment in Northern Nigeria which seeks to reduce the number of deaths due to diarrhoea among children under 5 years. Through our homegrown Primary & Adolescents #PSHE #WASH In Schools programme, we equip children with the skills and knowledge to make informed decisions for their own health and wellbeing, enabling them to be agents of change and positively impact their surroundings in the future.  Myself and my foundation are committed to breaking intergenerational cycles of disadvantage and inequality in health and wellbeing that undermine the stability of societies and even the security of our nation. Through a pragmatic and strategic approach, we place children's rights and wellbeing at the centre to catalyse sustainable development by breaking down the transfer of poverty and exclusion from one generation to the next. A child rights-based approach multiplies future development gains. Children's Day offers each of us an inspirational entry-point to advocate, promote and celebrate children's rights, translating into dialogues and actions that will build a better Nigeria for our children. Our children are the leaders of today, we must do everything in our power to create an environment in which they can thrive and succeed, from health, the economy to climate change and beyond.   

 

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Day 4 at the Seventy-Fifth World Health Assembly was an excellent opportunity to reflect on the impact of longstanding allies and advocates - as my Wellbeing Foundation Africa Global Delegation attend ongoing in-person Plenary Committee meetings in the Palais des Nations and various interdisciplinary sessions. As I joined them for the exclusive one-day, hybrid DEVEX@WHA75: Reimagining Global Health Security event, I was delighted to engage with expert analysis and insider coverage of this week’s most important conversations and commitments. The past two years have proven that the world needs to be more prepared for the next pandemic, with a major theme of this year's Assembly focusing on health emergency preparedness and response. Even as COVID-19 bolstered the birth of new initiatives, interest in the creation of new institutions, and debate on how to change what has long been the status quo - the matter of ending the current pandemic remains high on the agenda. Connecting with other leaders in global health from around the globe, it was wonderful to listen to and see my good friend, and longtime advocacy companion, Dr. Githinji Gitahi, Group CEO, Amref Health Africa, discuss achieving vaccine equity, as another ally Loyce Pace, Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, discussed preparing for the next pandemic and the new preparedness instruments that would be needed, hear from Medtronic LABS, with a spotlight on better health for all through digital solutions, and see Nina Schwalbe, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Dr. Petra Khoury, Director for Health and Care Department, IFRC. With the World Economic Forum, taking place in Davos, ending today, this week in Switzerland has been compelling and poignant. Embodying both the World Economic Forum and the World Health Assembly, I truly believe a philosophy of collaborative, multistakeholder impact, in a uniquely accessible environment, was needed to reconnect, share insights, gain fresh perspectives, and build problem-solving communities and initiatives. As the global fractures and broken systems in health, politics and economics are highlighted, the convenings this week shed light on refreshed rooted trust, a starting point for a new era of global responsibility and cooperation.

“I am not African because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me”. ~ Kwame Nkrumah Happy Africa Day! Let us celebrate our continent’s unity, achievements, cultures and traditions. On this day, in 1963, the Organisation of African Unity – now known as the African Union – was established. As we commemorate this momentous day, with the African Union celebrating their 20th anniversary, I am proud to reflect on the accomplishments of our people across the continent. Yesterday, at #WHA75 my brother, Dr Tedros, was elected to serve a second five-year term as Director-General of the world's leading public health agency - The World Health Organization. The first African leader of the United Nations health agency, Dr Tedros’ tireless commitment to global health, care for humanity and humility is an inspiration for us all. His values embody the progress of our continent, and we are fortunate to have direct representation and a primary voice as our advocate. This year's Africa Day celebration is centred on nutrition, with the African Union Theme for the year 2022 “Strengthening Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on the African Continent”. Myself and my Wellbeing Foundation Africa would like to emphasise the focused importance of addressing malnutrition and food insecurity, particularly in children. According to the findings of the Cost of Hunger in Africa Study, it is estimated that African countries are losing the equivalent of between 1.9 and 16.5% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due to child under-nutrition. It is also estimated that malnourished children are at risk of losing more than 10% of their lifetime earning potential. That is why my WBFA addresses nutrition through our Adolescent Skills and Drills, Personal Social And Health Education programming, and Mamacare360 programme, to particularly empower the girl child and mothers, who often lacks iron and folic acid, as Africa's potential and bright future is centred around African women and youth. They are integral to the solution, especially in driving sustainable development, innovation and achieving the African Union’s vision of Agenda 2063. It is vital that we are supported by increased and well-targeted official development assistance, but above all by an increase in allocations of national resources, focused on the nutritional well-being of populations, including the most vulnerable ones. I trust that Dr Tedros, the WHO and WHOF, will continue to focus on the existing malnutrition challenges which have greatly exposed the economic vulnerability of African countries and the weaknesses of our health and food systems. Working together with all stakeholders, and with effective partnerships with UN Agencies, we can allow Africa the opportunity to thrive as the powerhouse it is, and contribute to achieving all the Sustainable Development Goals. As reinforced and combined action to strengthen resilience in nutrition and food security will lay a strong foundation to empower our continent. “God bless Africa, Guard her people, Guide her leaders, And give her peace.” ~ Trevor Huddleston

As the Seventy-Fifth World Health Assembly begins - the first in-person Health Assembly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic - I am thrilled to join the World Health Organization in celebrating and amplifying the importance of health and wellbeing.  Dedicated to the well-being of all people and guided by science, the WHO is committed to continuing to lead and champion global efforts to give everyone, everywhere an equal chance at a safe and healthy life. The World Health Assembly convenes each year, as it is the main decision-making body of WHO and comprises 194 Member States. Delegates from all Member States have come together to agree on the Organization’s priorities and policies with country delegates making decisions on health goals and strategies that will guide their own public health work.  The theme of this year’s Health Assembly is health for peace and peace for health. The COVID-19 pandemic and other health emergencies with international reach have highlighted the leadership and coordinating role of WHO in responding to such events - necessitating a heightened focus on strengthening preparedness for and response to health emergencies. ​​ As the Inaugural Global Health Ambassador for the World Health Organization Foundation, myself and my Wellbeing Foundation Africa are actively working, through advocacy and programming, to achieve the WHO's “triple billion targets”. The targets are that, by 2025 (from a starting point of 2019), one billion more people will be benefiting from universal health coverage, one billion more people will be better protected from health emergencies, and one billion more people will be enjoying better health and well-being. This #WHA75, with pressing matters of civic importance at home in Nigeria, I am ably represented at the in-person strategic roundtable and normative sessions in Geneva by the WBFA Global Delegation, which looks forward to celebrating partnerships in Strengthening Africa's Architecture for Health Emergency Preparedness, Response and Resilience, this evening, with special gratitude to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in the presence of Africa CDC, the WHO AFRO and EMRO, and partners in global health emergencies. As the WBFA Global Delegation to WHA75 commences their engagements - I am confident that people-centred frontline impact will shape global policy deliberations and the important gender data around our core focus of RMNCAH, EMONC, Nutrition, One Health and WASH. I look forward to their reports on the implementation of the areas of work set, in order to determine what has been achieved and decide on strategies for addressing the gaps.  

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I was honoured today to join Pathfinder International and She Forum Africa as a panellist for their high-level convening to deepen awareness and build momentum for gender equality in Nigeria through “Partnerships for Goals: Advancing the Gender Agenda for Sustainable Development.”  Coming together on International Day of Living Together in Peace, I reflected on the importance of accepting differences and having the ability to listen to, recognise, respect and appreciate others while encouraging our Nation to unite in differences and diversity, particularly when it comes to Gender Equality, allowing us to further contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  Nigeria is a beautiful and unique example of cultural heterogeneity, with over 250 ethnic groups, 500 languages, and many religions. Amplifying the diversity in our national identity is essential to achieve reconciliation and promote harmony. I hold these beliefs and values dearly, as exemplified daily in my life and work with my Wellbeing Foundation Africa, as our efforts towards community behaviour change, and driving a community forward, can only prevail where peace exists.  Currently, according to United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), in 2022 Nigeria has 18.5 million out-of-school children, an increase from the 10.6 million in 2015, with over 60% being female, meaning around 10 million girls are out of school today. This heightening of gender inequity in the Nigerian society is the reason why only one in four girls from poor, rural families complete junior secondary school, and why one in every four children out-of-school in the world is from Nigeria.  We have a national crisis on our hands due to the terrorist attacks on schools and education centres, gender inequality, and lack of adequate resources, negatively affecting access to education for children across the nation. Addressing the barriers that hinder the girl child's education is extremely important, and exactly why it is essential to have conversations surrounding the topics of ‘Partnerships for Goals: Advancing the Gender Agenda for Sustainable Development’ and ‘International Day of Living Together in Peace'. Our discussions, with representatives from the Government, CSOs, development partners, members of the diplomatic community, youth and disability organisations and various EVAWG stakeholders, including the private sector, focused on commitment to supporting, promoting, strengthening and intensifying solution-oriented advocacy around women and girls agency from a rights perspective through unity and collaboration.  By sharing the work of my foundation, and how we analyse gender policies and bills, advocate at all levels to transform the system to further promote the agency and rights of women, girls, and marginalised groups, and identify opportunities to increase the participation of women and girls in SRHR decision-making, I hope to amplify how to regularly mobilise the efforts needed from the national and international community to tolerance, inclusion, understanding and solidarity.  WBFA is wholly committed to helping Nigeria achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 with a particular emphasis on SDG 5, to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. While progress has been made, no country in the world has achieved gender equality or complete harmony.  Our nation must continue on the path to uphold the desire to live and build together towards sustainable solidarity, foster compassion and understand one another. Our differences make us stronger and more dynamic; our diversity enhances our innovation, creativity and potential; our inclusivity encourages various perspectives and growth; our unity makes us Nigeria.  Let us mobilise our efforts from corner to corner, I look forward to continuing this discussion with key stakeholders across all sectors, including working with communities, faith leaders and other relevant actors, to leverage and promote the rallying role of the UN Sustainable Development Goals while supporting and educating communities on gender equality and harmony. We need to equalise the equity of opportunity from birth to age - to achieve gender parity.

 

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To celebrate International Day of the Midwife #IDM2022 and the International Confederation of Midwives centennials anniversary #ICM100,  I am thrilled to launch my book in the honour of midwives, maternity support workers and student midwives around the world.  ‘Midwives at the ‘Front’ of Frontline Action’ is an anthology of my advocacy and action, with the aim of amplifying resources, respect and recognition for the midwifery profession globally.  Featuring recommendations and letters of support from, but not limited to, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus - Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Francis-Day Stirk - Former President of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent - First Chief Midwifery Officer Of England And Professor Of Midwifery at King’s College London and London South Bank University, amongst many more.  Over the many years of my advocacy, outreach and community programming journey, I have witnessed midwives meet extraordinary circumstances and risk their lives to provide excellent care to women and their families. As I commemorate their bravery and importance to healthcare, I also call on the international community of health to invest in midwives and maternity care.  You can read my ‘Midwives at the ‘Front’ of Frontline Action’ by clicking here! 

Today, I celebrate International Day of the Midwife and mark the International Confederation of Midwives centennial. I applaud our collective progress; acknowledge how far we have come in advocating for and delivering, investments in midwifery. Midwives support and protect women, newborns and families. They are crucial to reducing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Each day they stand up for the rights of women to receive respectful maternity care and fight on the frontlines. Midwifery spans an incredible breadth in healthcare, yet many midwives across the globe, who are predominantly women, face persistent struggles rooted in gender equality, a lack of investment in their profession, training and education, pay gaps and limited protection.  Imagine a world where midwives have achieved the investments they deserve, from equitable compensation, fair working conditions and protections, standardised regulation frameworks, equal opportunities to local education, and policy which protects them from gender-based abuse and harassment; midwives would be well supported to avert roughly two-thirds of maternal, newborn deaths and stillbirths by 2035; 1.9 million stillbirths averted every year, 2 million neonatal deaths averted every year, 280K maternal deaths averted every year, saving 4.3 million lives per year. Midwives must be recognised for what they are: a pathway to achieving the #SDGs. Evidence demonstrates that in order to improve maternal and neonatal health, improve sexual and reproductive health and rights and meet the Sustainable Development Goals, midwife-led continuity of care is crucial. Policies which allow midwives to perform their full scope of practice, strengthen primary healthcare systems, and provide an innovative opening to achieving universal health coverage.  The midwife, by virtue of her education, sphere, the scope of practice and unique relationship with women and their families, is in an ideal position to provide the information, services and support which women need in planning their families, as well as to influence the type of services based on the International Confederation of Midwives Global Standards for Midwifery Regulation. If midwives had equal access to education, they would have greater career satisfaction and longevity, and all families would have access to culturally relevant, professional sexual and reproductive healthcare, and maternal health. Women and other birthing people everywhere would benefit from life-enhancing, professional and respectful, care and the standards of midwifery practice all over the globe would be raised. The global evidence unequivocally indicates: that increased investments in midwives and midwifery have led to healthier, happier families and communities in every corner of the world. I see it daily with my Wellbeing Foundation Africa midwives, who conduct various programming from our flagship Mamacare360, which delivers care in line with the World Health Organization recommendations and bridges gaps by making the mother a premium partner in her outcome, through respectful maternity care, education and awareness, to our Sanitation Angel midwives, who deliver key WASH and SRHR knowledge and best practice to children and adolescents in schools, and health workers in public and private primary, secondary and tertiary health facilities across Nigeria.  That is why I call on governments, policymakers, regulatory authorities, educational institutions and international and civil society organisations to turn their focus to paving the way for midwives, with universal access to sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health services, addressing equity at all levels and leaving no one behind. It is simple: midwives equal sustainable healthcare.  Today I thank the midwives who stand up for the rights of women to receive respectful maternity care. The midwives who offer contraception even though their societies refuse. The midwives who have supported pregnant women who are suffering from abuse and cannot return home. The midwives that say no to performing FGM. The midwives that have held perpetrators of rape and violence accountable, despite fear of the ramifications. The midwives that continue to hold the torch for gender equality and defend women and girls. Midwives need support at all levels of a nation to practise in a safe and enabling environment. Midwives should be free from harm going to work, at work and in their homes. Driven by one strong collective voice, we must continue advancing and mobilising the evidence to ensure the next 100 years are even more monumental for midwives, women, newborns and all people. I am in awe each day of midwives around the globe, and proud that each passing year feels more significant for midwives and midwifery than the one before it. We must continue to #PushForMidwives, around the globe.   

 

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In holding true to ancient wisdom, we must continue to evolve and flow.

I was privileged yesterday to honour the invitation of His Imperial Majesty, Alaiyeluwa Arole Odua, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, The Ooni of Ife, to Chair the Launch and Public Presentation of Unspoken: Oba Obinrin, a chronicle not of Queens, but of Female Kings of the ancient yoruba culture and tradition.

Celebrating historical female royal leadership, hitherto unspoken, and thus unknown and unlearnt by so many generations, was to me, a fitting path from a gender precipice to stronger engendered ground in our dear nation, on the last and final day of #WomensHistoryMonth around the world.

In my Chairman's address, I traced the journey and evolution of the role and status of women in Nigeria from precolonial times to the early 21st century - throughout which women have played a major role in social and economic activities, also highlighting also the strong recognition within our yoruba tradition of the philosophy and perception of Abiyamo: The Yoruba concept of Motherhood, as a unique matriarchal leadership model.

As a female leader, Pioneer Member and Steering Council Member of the UN Women’s African Women Leaders Network Initiative globally and in Nigeria respectively, a member of the ICPD25 International Steering Council and Founder and President of The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, an NGO which works to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for women, infants and children, advocacy for women and the girl child across Nigeria, I stand on the shoulders of the Yoruba heroines who have come before me. It is their strength, their sacrifice and their legacy that has allowed me to face all challenges with boldness and without fear.

As a member of His Imperial Majesty The Ooni of Ife’s Caucus of Eminent Yoruba Sons and Daughters, I am inspired by the works of Queen Moremi Ajasoro and the legendary Ooni Luwo Gbagada of the Ancient Ife, the trailblazing Pupupu of Ondo kingdom, Alaafin Orompotoniyun of Old Oyo kingdom and the memorable female Awujales of Ijebu-Ode.

Alaafia, my central motto promotes the attainment of a state of peace, wellbeing and harmony for our mothers, our Abiyamo, their newborns, their families and communities. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa frontline initiatives and my advocacy are based on the theme Alaafia, to establish, promote and positively impact the health and wellbeing of women and children, families and communities. Through the culture of promoting Alaafia throughout the 670 communities where we now work in Lagos, Cross River, Kaduna, Kwara, Osun, Sokoto, Kano States and the Federal Capital of Abuja, we are empowering and engendering the rise of our women and girls through effective frontline programmatic actions and strategic partnerships

Women in the Yoruba world view appear as 'water' the primordial element, thus there is a tendency to characterise women as an object that can flow across spaces and leave indelible marks in time. According to Yoruba beliefs, water is the essence of life. So is a woman who brings forth children. She ensures the continuity of the life of the lineage and of the community. Indeed, the ancient Yoruba declaratory prayer 'Oju-Oro ni ileke omi' implores those seeking success, strength and superiority to stay on top of water, and thus evolve and flow.

The Alaafia Agenda’s constant and consistent reinforcement, renewal and replenishment of sustainable development actions is in itself a validation of historical culture and tradition. It is only through our joint efforts as pathfinders that we can bring to current and contemporary life - the Yoruba tradition and culture and its pillars of female leadership enshrined in our history by Alaafin Omopoto the first woman to become "king" of the Oyo Empire and Ooni Lúwo Gbàgìdá the 21st Ooni of Ife in the 10th century. Our shared past has given us a special identity, Alaafia Abiyamo, and equally a shared future for our common and universal wellbeing as crowned, uncrowned and acknowledged Oba Obinrin.

We must and will rise to our obligation and the fulfilment that history has bestowed on us, as pathfinders, for our women, for our children, for our menfolk, our ecosystem of communities, and for our leaders of tomorrow.

I was pleased to join the Bricon Foundation, Co-founders Dr Niyi Adekeye and Mrs Abigail Simon-Hart, Trustee Mrs Sonja Ally and special guest Dr Adamu Umar, President of the Nigerian Cancer Society at the launch of The Bricon Foundation’s new fundraising campaign “ E Fit B u” to raise 50 Million Naira for cancer patient treatment on Sunday, March 20th, 2022.  Cancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly one in six deaths, and with a new case of cancer being diagnosed every 2 seconds, changing lives completely. In 2018, I and my Wellbeing Foundation Africa commissioned the Report of the Rapid Assessment of Cancer Care in Nigeria by The Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) on behalf of Amref Health Africa. As the statistics prove, cancer is a personal story for all of us, with us all being affected. In February of this year, I lost a very close friend of mine, Dr Mwelecele Ntuli Malecela to cancer. She was a passionate advocate for eliminating neglected tropical diseases as Director of WHO’s Department of Control of NTDs. She was also a highly respected scientist, who specialised in lymphatic filariasis in Tanzania -  a truly inspirational figure for young women in science, a dedicated leader and a committed listener. Unfortunately, cancer is a cruel and silent disease. It does not care about your age, gender, status, or personality to be diagnosed with it, but then to be treated for it, it does; the equity gap within cancer care is costing lives.   People who seek cancer care hit barriers at every turn. Income, education, geographical location and discrimination based on ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability and lifestyle, and the cancer care infrastructure and specialist nursing and midwifery workforce deficit are just a few of the factors that can negatively affect care.  The most disadvantaged groups are also more likely to have increased exposure to a host of other risk factors, like tobacco, an unhealthy diet or environmental hazards. It is almost guaranteed that the cancer care gap affects you or people in your community.  If we work collectively we can close the gap. The reality today is that who you are and where you live could mean the difference between life and death. It is not fair, but we can work to change this. We must bridge the gap and support organisations like Bricon in their admirable work to make the lives of people experiencing cancer and their families better and together, strive to make a difference in the Cancer Care landscape in Nigeria. Nigeria suffers from high morbidity and mortality of cancer, with a 60 percent death rate. This rate is disturbing and extremely high. By improving the gaps that exist throughout the cancer care supply chain; from policy to health system capacity, screening and early detection to financing treatments, and the available workforce in cancer care to cancer survivors and family support, we can support the 40% while raising the overall survival rate.  According to the Wellbeing Foundation Africa and Amref Health Africa’s landmark 2018 Rapid Assessment of Cancer Care in Nigeria - which guided Nigeria’s policymakers in formulating National Cancer Strategy and Registries - the burden and trend of non-communicable diseases - including cancer - is on the increase in Nigeria - and it is instructive that the research was supported not by any domestic resource mobilisation, but by an international donor, Takeda. We found that most states had only one officer in their NCD unit who rarely comes to the workstation. Primary Health Cares have functional referral systems but most health workers in these facilities do not have the capacity to screen or make diagnoses at this level. The treatment in these facilities is not optimal because of inadequate financing, insufficient equipment and a low level of technical know-how in dealing with cancer.  The supply chain of drugs and commodities are also very expensive, leading to the majority of the population experiencing a financial barrier to treatment. The report shows that at a stakeholders' level, the awareness of cancer is low, and according to the health workers, most of the patients present themselves to the health centres when cancer is at stage 3 or 4 when nothing much can be done beyond palliative care and counsel.  The cancer care landscape in Nigeria is compounded with an acute shortage of health personnel, due to the ongoing brain drain of health personnel to high-income countries. For example, Clinical Nurse Specialists in Nigeria are long overdue for the development, recognition, and legal inclusion of the Midwifery and CNS roles and practices in the career structure of nurses at all levels of the health system and Midwifery Services Framework.  In collaboration with national and international partners, my Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s Cancer Alliance is now committed to formulating a road map towards an important Push Policy that would: train, recognize and remunerate advanced degree nurses and Midwives in the clinical settings with appropriate salary scale; establish standards for CNS role and practice; and develop the CNS curriculum with master’s level courses that include opportunities for content-specific clinical experiences such as specialist training for cancer nursing. The Bricon Foundation recognises the lack of sufficient support structure (counselling and advice), equipment, financial assistance and trained medical personnel to cope with the ever-increasing numbers of cancer patients.  Whilst screening and advocacy continue to bring cancer patients to the fore, the treatment and support structures cannot cope with these rising volumes. There is, therefore, a need to address the different areas of cancer care to ensure that patients who are found to have cancer, have choices of where to go to receive care, and more importantly can afford to have this care at all. We cannot overemphasise the importance of having the relevant medical infrastructure within the country, supported by well-trained motivated professionals and appropriate legislation. This can only be done if there is sufficient funding to the medical sector as a whole and if there are funding mechanisms to make more complex specialist care such as cancer treatment available to all citizens and not just the wealthy and informed. Helping raise awareness about cancer via education, advocacy and counselling, caring about the emotional well-being of those with cancer,  and supporting fundraising for treatment, equipment and training are all necessary for the continued fight against cancer.  In 2022, the Bricon Foundation remains committed to improving the quality of care available to cancer patients through support for the purchase of much-needed cancer drugs and medicaments, funding for treatment and diagnostic tests as well as much-needed emotional support to them and their families. They will also resume training programmes for healthcare workers in Breaking Bad News, end of life and Palliation. This battle requires a holistic approach, including increasing the awareness about the disease; educating on screening and early diagnosis; training and retraining of relevant health workers; and infrastructure upgrade in our facilities across the country. Let us all support Bricon in their commendable work to make sure cancer patients, survivors and their families are supported in all stages of this disease by contributing to the Bricon Foundation’s target of Raising 50 million Naira so that we can support the Foundation in this mission.  Since I am committed to the cause of upskilling the nursing and midwifery profession to provide specialist care, I am working towards mobilising resources to create a dedicated grant to support the Bricon Foundation’s Macmillan based services.  We may not cure cancer today, but we can contribute to the battle against it by doing what we can to support closing the care gap today!

We must create better opportunities for women and children with disabilities. When disparities due to gender, disability and age intersect, these driving factors widen inequities, intensifying exclusion. The time is now to turn the clock forward on women’s rights. March is an empowering and significant month for women and girls globally, with it being Women’s History Month, International Women’s Day (IWD), Women’s Week and the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66). As we spend the month celebrating women and girls, their contributions to history, culture and society, and advocating for their further equity and opportunity, we must highlight women as active supporters and claimholders of development. No nation can advance progressively in any sector without the contributions of all women.  Despite the enormous and undeniable contributions women and girls make to their communities, they continue to be marginalized and deprived due to gender inequality. “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow” is this year’s IWD theme, and I had the pleasure to expand on this subject with Radio Nigeria on IWD - March 8th in association with Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, in the lead up to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (14-25 March, 2022).  I truly believe that achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes will require deliberate and intentional actions to integrate a #OneHealth approach. Disparities due to gender, along with factors such as disability and age, respectively, are driving factors for widening inequities. When the three intersect, the negative impact of exclusion is intensified. As a result, adolescent girls with disabilities are one of the population groups facing overwhelming barriers and are left furthest behind in all walks of life. I am humbled to, in association with my Wellbeing Foundation Africa, join PMNCH global alliance for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health to highlight these persistent disparities and their consequences.  Disability and poverty reinforce and perpetuate one another and as such, disability has a higher prevalence in lower-income countries. 80% of people with disabilities live in developing countries, facing more frequent socioeconomic inequities than their non-disabled peers, including a higher rate of poverty, lower education level and increased rate of unemployment. Girls with disabilities experience a range and variety of impairments, including physical, psychosocial, intellectual and sensory conditions, that may or may not come with functional limitations. Compared to men without disabilities, women with disabilities are three times more likely to have unmet needs for health care, three times more likely to be denied health care, four times more likely to be treated badly in the healthcare system and 50% more likely to suffer catastrophic health expenditure. While all people with disabilities face varying discrimination and are often invisible in policies, women and girls with disabilities are subjected to double discrimination: because of their gender as well as disability bias. Women and girls with disabilities are not a homogenous group: they include those with multiple and intersecting identities across all contexts, such as ethnic, religious, and racial backgrounds; their status as refugee, migrant, asylum-seeking, and internally displaced women; LGBTIQ+ identity; age; marital status; and living with or being affected by HIV. The disabilities being faced by women and girls are equally diverse, including physical, psychosocial, intellectual and sensory conditions, that may or may not come with functional limitations. The pre-existing inequities and discrimination that adolescent girls face on a daily basis have been further amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. In places hit hard by COVID-19 and others with a much lower rate of infection—women and girls with disabilities are still being left behind. They are struggling to meet basic needs, to access needed health services including those specific to their gender and disability, and face disproportionate risks of violence.   Systemic barriers coupled with the failure to prioritize the collection of data on the situation of women and girls with disabilities have perpetuated their ‘invisibility’ within societies, as multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination exclude them from various aspects of life. Girls with disabilities have lower school completion rates and lower literacy rates than all other children, for example, and girls and women with disability face particular barriers to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and information. Provision of accessible sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) information and services for girls and young women with disabilities are largely non-existent, with service providers in health centres, schools, and institutions that house them ill-prepared to handle their specific needs. And when women and girls with disabilities try to access services, they can experience negative and hostile attitudes among service providers, lack of accessible buildings, equipment, and transportation, affordability of services, and isolation in institutions, camps, family homes, or group homes. Women and girls with disabilities also suffer up to three times greater risk of rape and are twice as likely to be survivors of domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence (over a longer period and with more severe injuries) than women without disabilities. The absence of appropriate sanitation facilities for girls with disabilities in schools, including separate, accessible, and sheltered toilets, in addition to the lack of education, resources, and support for menstrual hygiene, compromise their ability to properly manage their hygiene and make them especially prone to diseases. This often leads to girls and young women with disabilities staying at home or being sent to special schools. It can also lead to grave violations of rights such as forced hysterectomies or forced use of contraception that can eliminate or reduce menstruation. Girls and young women with disabilities have the same sexual and reproductive health and rights as other girls and young women, as recognised in various internationally recognised conventions signed by many countries, for example, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), yet in practice, their needs are being overlooked or under-prioritised. This needs to change. The situation for girls and women with disabilities only worsens in humanitarian settings - conflict and displacement exacerbate and heighten the discrimination that they already face in times of peace and destroy their protection systems, making them more vulnerable to exploitation. In such vulnerable situations, for example, girls and women with disabilities face increased levels of sexual and gender-based violence (GBV) in and out of the home, especially those with intellectual and mental disabilities. Factors contributing to the lack of inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in humanitarian response include; gaps in policy development and implementation; negative attitudes of family members and communities; limited staff knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and lack of champions and local partners.  My foundation - the Wellbeing Foundation Africa focuses on preventing birth injuries that may cause or lead to disabilities by improving maternal and child health from the very start. We emphasize and practice screening in order for preparedness, work with healthcare facilities to strengthen EmONC throughout Africa and the developing world and educate our mothers through the WBFA Mamacare360 flagship programme. We do this all while always practicing and preaching inclusion and accessibility of all.  Universal access to EmONC is essential to reduce maternal mortality and requires that all pregnant women and newborns with complications have rapid access to well-functioning facilities that include a broad range of service delivery types and settings. We must ingrain this practice throughout Africa and rebuild the healthcare system.  The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development is clear that disability cannot be a reason or criteria for lack of access to development programming and the realization of human rights. The SDGs include seven targets that explicitly refer to persons with disabilities. There is a need for an intersectional approach that empowers women and girls with disabilities and dedicates more resources and technical support, integrates innovative solutions, and develops guidance and practice which explicitly considers disability to create more enabling and accessible environments for persons with disabilities. Disability-related support services must also be classified as essential services.  States must undertake long-term efforts to ensure the full respect, protection, and fulfillment of SRHR, the right to be free from violence, and related rights for women and girls with disabilities at all times. We need more data in this arena to support programme development. States need to prioritise the collection and dissemination of disability-related and disaggregated data and information to drive evidence-based programming and accountability.  Adolescent girls with disabilities should be capacitated, empowered and meaningfully engaged in the development of all policies, programmes and legal processes that affect their health and well-being, which is one of the central tenets of PMNCH’s Adolescent Call to Action: https://www.adolescents2030.org/. We need to recognize that African culture hides disability, and therefore access to available basic needs becomes a problem. African Countries and policy makers must implement a One Health approach to tackle future pandemics and develop a system of support that provides a better platform for engagement with PWDs, to grant them more access to basic facilities in the country. One Health is gaining recognition as an effective way to fight health issues at the human-animal-environment interface, including zoonotic diseases, as the approach recognizes how intertwined the health of people is with the health of animals, plants, and our shared environment. This collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach when implemented at the local, regional, national, and global levels can achieve the goal of optimal health outcomes which recognise the intrinsic connection between all living matters.  Successful public health interventions require the cooperation of human, animal, and environmental health partners. Professionals in human health (doctors, nurses, public health practitioners, epidemiologists), animal health (veterinarians, paraprofessionals, agricultural workers), environment (ecologists, wildlife experts), and other areas of expertise need to communicate, collaborate on, and coordinate activities. Even law enforcement, policymakers, agriculture, communities, and pet owners are relevant players in a One Health approach. No one person, organization, or sector can address issues at the animal-human-environment interface alone. To create a safer, more equitable future for our women and girls, we must advocate and put into action proactive and accessible policy which supports them from the get-go and not only when emergency situations arise. Through collective effort, we can create a sustainable tomorrow built upon and based on gender equality.   

Today I write in disappointment and dismay, but undaunted. I am filled with the determination that Nigeria’s women must succeed. As I write this note, Nigeria’s lawmakers - elected and empowered primarily and federally to protect and uphold the rights and dignities of the Nigerian people - have once again cemented another painful setback for us, our women and girls. On Tuesday the 1st of March, Members of the 9th Session of the National Assembly’s House of Representatives voted a loudly reverberating, and disregarding no to four gender-sensitive bills proffered within the review of 68 amendments to the 1999 Constitution: A bill to provide 111 special seats for women in the National and State Houses of Assembly – Rejected A bill to expand of the scope of citizenship by registration – Rejected A bill for Affirmative Action for women in political party administration and leadership – Rejected. A bill to reserve a quota for women (on political appointments) – Rejected. The denial of passage of these bills illustrate the palpable opposition to opening the space for women’s participation in everyday politics, governance and in the exercise of our rights and power. We are furious. Women are locked in a cage of underrepresentation in Nigeria. As of February 2021, only 3.6% of seats in parliament were held by women in a country where 49% of the population is female. Currently, only seven out of 109 senators and 22 of the 360 House of Representatives members are women. The legislature, like many arms of the Federal Government, is an old boys club where girls are not welcome.  [caption id="attachment_1658" align="alignnone" width="640"] Advocacy visit, 8th Senate, 2016[/caption] Making gains has been difficult. In the previous 8th National Assembly, we came closer than ever before with the passage of transformative legislation. However, with yesterday’s raucous dismissal of the most recent gender-sensitive bills, announced amidst the belly laughs of Senators and Honourables, previously visited by the First Lady, and witnessed on the dire day by the Second Lady respectively, the 9th National Assembly is sending a glaring message to the world: greater political representation of women is not welcome in our hallowed chambers, and within the boundaries and coasts of our shores. So I find myself asking, like many others, does Nigeria respect the rights of women?  It is greater representation and equality of opportunity that has been proven, through decades and across nations, to be the pivot and the panacea in building and sustaining strong, vibrant democracies. Where calm deliberations around inclusivity breeds responsive policies and enabling environments that are designed for the very people that need them. Yesterday’s actions only reveal that the perceived worth of women, and our ability to lead and participate with effectiveness and substance, to add value to our economies, government and communities - is largely disrespected and grossly undervalued. Take for instance the matter of citizenship, which has come to be seen as something as universal as DNA - an innate equality. Citizenship is a juristic and political status where the individual enjoys full, legally sanctioned membership in his or her state and owes full allegiance to it, regardless of gender. Yet while a man can pass citizenship to his wife, much like passing on his DNA to his child, the 1999 Constitution discriminates against the woman seeking to pass citizenship on to her spouse. She is denied equal nationality rights, her spouse rendered stateless, unrecognised as a citizen in his wife’s country. In roughly 50 countries such laws are often the legacy of practices implemented under colonial rule, digging insidious roots in old systems that hold women to be unequal to men. But even Africa is shedding this skin and stepping boldly into modernity. Our neighbours work to secure contemporary Nationality laws that don’t discriminate on the basis of gender and instead align with global consensus embodied through platforms such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which explicitly obliges States to guarantee equal nationality rights to women (Article 9). Gender equality can never be realized in a country that maintains gender-discriminatory nationality laws. But the actions of the 9th National Assembly go beyond equality. It reflects the lack of equity and opportunity for women and girls, and our entire female gender, under the Constitution. There is no justice for women without equality.  If understanding justice to be righting the wrong and compensating the marginalised - our lawmakers recognise no injustice.  The bill for Affirmative Action for women in political party administration and leadership has its foundation in this understanding of compensatory justice- that through greater representation, we are securing a systematic way of “righting the wrong'' for women, achieving both equality and reparation, without force. We have seen this approach come to life in countries like Rwanda and South Africa who have used a quota system to pave the way for women representation in politics. In Rwanda, over 50% of political positions are held by women and we see a similar case in Ethiopia’s 50% women cabinet. Role models have been nurtured, and pave the way of other women to rise to positions of power and aspire to leadership positions. Affirmative action is not the end, but merely a means to promote true, lasting diversity and open the gateways for political, economic and social equality. For so long, Nigeria’s women have been handed the crumbs of the national cake, forced into a silent corner, only to cry into an open void. But enough is enough. The state of our nation will never improve, until our representatives actually respect and accurately reflect our values, voices and realities, break the bias and ultimately balance that reflection with our national aspiration. I remain dismayed not only because yesterday was truly a dark day of discrimination against women in Nigeria and indeed for women all around the world. But because I believe this act is beyond ineptitude - and signposts Misogyny: the misogyny against protecting our rights, and chance to live, thrive and flourish equally. From a civil society perspective, there is a bright klieglight on the pathway to change. With gender equality fuelling our advocacy and programme strategies, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa has played notable roles in the major events that have shaped the course of campaigns for the rights of women and girls globally since the Beijing Declaration in 1995. Most notably committing to the rise of women and girls through WBFA’s endorsement of The Girl Declaration launched in 2013, as a call to action that aims to ensure that adolescent girls are included in the post-2015 agenda, demanding that governments, organisations, individuals and other stakeholders LISTEN, and the Nairobi Statement on ICPD25: Accelerating the Promise, with its asks and commitments. [caption id="attachment_1661" align="alignnone" width="638"] The Girl Declaration[/caption]

Making women a priority

The Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s Women Girls And Gender Development Targets acknowledge the fundamental necessity of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Throughout our multi-layered strategy of research, advocacy, policy development, community engagement, philanthropy and education, we have prioritized women, adolescent girls, and children within our various programs mainly focusing on maternal and infant health, as well as sexual, reproductive, mental, and social health in order to empower and strengthen girls and women from birth to old age. This WBFA WGGDT Strategic Actions are guided by items 1-5 of the Girl Declaration; 1-10 of the G7 Recommendations for Action from the Gender Equality Advisory Council (2019)4; and 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 10 and 11 of the Nairobi Statement on ICPD25: Accelerating the Promise. When we fail to act, we wage war on hope and on the possibility of a better future for the generations that will follow. We assault the inalienable and fundamental human value we have within. But instead, let us not be defeated. But gather our collective power to step across this gender precipice to stronger safer grounds, galvanise our voices, and brace ourselves, beyond protest, to wage the war for affirmative action. For Nigeria belongs to all of us and we will not be reduced by a fleeting few, but storm forward in our fight for what is already ours. Equity, and Equality now.  Update on March 8th, 2022: I welcome today's breaking news that the Federal House of Representatives has rescinded their negative decisions, and announced the re-consideration of 3 of the 4 bills: on citizenship, indigeneship and 35% affirmative action for women. We must continue to work collectively to advance women and girls rights in Nigeria.

The WHO and UNICEF recently released their joint findings on the impact of marketing in the sector of formula milk.  The study, commissioned by WHO and UNICEF, was undertaken between August 2019 and April 2021 by a specialist research team with commercial marketing and behaviour change expertise, and conducted in eight countries – Bangladesh, China, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK), and Viet Nam. The largest-ever study of its kind, it draws on surveys with over 8500 pregnant women and mothers of young children (aged 0-18 months) and more than 300 health professionals. The report exposes the aggressive marketing practices used by the formula milk industry and highlights impacts on families' decisions about how to feed their infants and young children. It is apparent from the report that the marketing of formula milk influences our decisions on infant feeding. From the moment you are pregnant, you begin to research best practices to ensure you have the healthiest baby possible. Milk marketing executives are aware of this, and track your interest, logging you on their future sales spreadsheet. By drawing on your fears and insecurities as you navigate your new normal, they spin the truth about their products and utilize trusted sources to spread their misinformation.  Formula milk marketing is powered by enormous budgets, which deliberately misuse science for profit. The ingrained messaging in our society is driving the over-consumption of formula milk and discouraging breastfeeding. It is also undermining women’s confidence and cynically exploiting parents’ instinct to do the best for their children. The consequences for children and families are significant, as consumption of milk formula can adversely affect children’s health, growth and development. It can also incur quite significant costs for families who can ill afford it. Let’s be clear: breastfeeding is the best possible source of nutrition for babies. Decades of research continue to reveal the incredible properties of mothers' own milk for growth, preventing infections, bonding, and brain development. Breastfeeding also supports the health of mothers. Formula milk has its place for women and parents who are not able to do so or those who can not do so due to the result of other factors – such as employment that is not supportive of breastfeeding. Yet, breastmilk and breastfeeding still remains the best possible option. Exploitative marketing practices continue to be immensely detrimental to maternal and child healthcare, and global health while feeding a misleading narrative into our communities. We must amplify breastfeeding as the best possible practice.  My Wellbeing Foundation Africa is committed to doing so, and throughout our dedicated Alive and Thrive, Mamacare+Nlift, WBFA-Laerdal, and Mamacare360 baby-friendly lactation support promotion programming, and dedicated NICU-specific WBFA-MedelaCares Partnership to help Nigeria's 378,000 premature infants annually receive the benefits of breastmilk, WBFA fully endorses the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes - The landmark public health agreement passed by the World Health Assembly in 1981. Breast milk helps keep your baby healthy, you healthy, and bonds you together through skin-to-skin contact. It truly is the perfect food for your baby. 

2021 Year in Review Presented By Toyin Saraki Global Office & Philanthropy Full circle, reinforcement and replenishment to protect the progress - a healthy future for all. I am honoured to present my 2021 Global Office and Philanthropy Annual Review, based on our core mission, ensuring a healthy future for all. Our current climate inspired my programmatic, communications and advocacy strategy, in what has now become a full circle - reinforcement and replenishment to protect the progress towards a healthy future for all. We saw a metamorphosis take place so that our innovative and dedicated work could remain tenacious, compelling and dependable for all. This achievement embodies our continued labour over 18 years of devoted and enthusiastic philanthropic endeavours, comprehensive frontline programming, and synergetic global partnerships. I consider it an honour and a privilege to continue supporting the Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s 2022 mission and impact, which remains ingrained in our decades of research, awareness and implementation. We look forward to further advancing our goals and targets. You can download my 2021 Annual Review or read it below. 2021 Year in Review Toyin Saraki

This past week, the Government of Nigeria launched their Revised National Policy on Population for Sustainable Development, emphasizing the immediate measures needed to combat a fertility rate that is increasing exponentially each day. Through expanding access to modern family planning, counseling and commodities, as well as promoting birth spacing, the government aims to improve the standard of living for all Nigerians and improve the health of women and children.  Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and seventh globally, with a fast-rising fertility rate. This, paired with the ever-challenging maternal and childbirth mortality and morbidity indices; and a significant education-occupation mismatch in the context of informality and development, continues to affect our national GDP. Half of the female population in Nigeria are in their reproductive years, and unfortunately, fewer than one out of five married women use family planning. The limited access due to supply chain failure, and lack of investment in education surrounding family planning for young people, has had a detrimental effect on our women, girls and children - putting their health at risk.  The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated supply chain systems around the world, making it even more difficult for low-income countries to access potentially life-saving medical supplies and sexual and reproductive health services. While governments, NGOs such as my Wellbeing Foundation Africa, and private sector corporations are working together on innovative methods and policies to overcome these hurdles, the crippling effects will take time to recover from. The reproductive and sexual health commodities supply chain is one of the systems which is suffering, leading to unsafe, unplanned, pregnancies that are fuelling an unsustainable population growth in Nigeria. The larger the population grows without choice and accessible education and healthcare, the more difficulties we will see arise in economic prosperity. A weakened GDP will contribute to higher inflation yet stagnated average incomes fuelling the cycle of poverty which is already deep-seated throughout the Nation.   Throughout the pandemic, my incredible WBFA frontline staff and midwives ensured that our Mamacare360 programs were able to continue safely, in an effort to tackle these growing gaps of inequality. Our Mamacare+Nlift in particular focused on family planning alongside IFA supplementation to combat anaemia. We expanded this program by recruiting more midwives and healthcare staff while broadening our reach to more healthcare facilities and healthcare service delivery areas, including home-care service and follow-up.  This grassroots advocacy and programme implementation allowed for an increase in local ownership of health services and supply chain management, which ensured improved access and sustainability to family planning programming.  Lack of access and supply chain failure are major factors in why women do not use contraceptives or discontinue doing so. Therefore, establishing, maintaining, and strengthening local supply chains is one of the fundamental components in achieving a demographic shift, economic growth and zero unmet need for modern family planning within Nigeria: to work towards a nation where every child is wanted, planned, and nurtured, from birth to age.  

 

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On World NTD Day, I was honoured to be recognised by the Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi, the Global First Ladies Alliance and The End Fund, for the Wellbeing Foundation Africa's efforts in bringing NTD-education into maternal health check-ups, strong advocacy for investment in WASH services, and helping to recruit more partners and leaders to the fight against NTDs, including the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria.  The global commitment to end NTDs in the past decade has made for undeniable positive development. As World NTD Week continues, we celebrate our progress, while advocating for the work that remains.  Therefore, I am excited to welcome the launch of the Kigali Declaration on neglected tropical diseases – a high-level political declaration that aims to mobilise political will and secure commitments to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3 target on NTDs and to deliver the targets set out in the World Health Organization’s Neglected Tropical Disease Roadmap (2021-2030). So far forty-three countries have eliminated at least one NTD, with 600 million people no longer requiring treatment for NTDs. Some of these diseases have plagued humanity for centuries, proving that with dedication and perseverance ending NTDs is possible.  The Kigali Declaration allows us to build on these previous achievements by implementing country ownership, highlighting private sector partnership and multilateral collaboration, and putting individuals and communities at the centre of the NTD response.  I am proud to pledge my, and my Wellbeing Foundation Africa's ongoing commitment to advocating for embedding NTD services and interventions in our national health systems, ensuring the prioritisation of programmes to prevent, diagnose and treat NTDs are fully resourced and fully integrated, and that women, young people, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented groups are included in this decision-making.   We are aware that NTDs are diseases of poverty and inequity. By tackling NTDs through political and policy engagement we will reduce poverty, address inequity, strengthen health systems, and build resilient communities, bringing us closer to achieving universal health coverage - these are a few of the many global health security benefits in supporting national NTD programmes.  The efforts to tackle NTDs are a global health success story, but there is still a lot more work to be done before the world is free of NTDs. The Kigali declaration is for, and in service of, the 1.7 billion people who continue to suffer from NTDs.  We must hold our ministers accountable, and ask them how the country is working to implement the Kigali Declaration for a brighter future for all.  #EndTheNeglect #WorldNTDDay #BeatNTDS #100percentCommitted #LightUpTheWorld

Today on Frontline Friday I would like to highlight an incredible donation from our dedicated partner organisation, Medela Cares.  Medela Cares was born out of Medela as a corporate social responsibility program to support the United Nations Global Compact and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Medela is a global player in breastfeeding research, products, technology and innovation, and is the #1 breast pump brand most recommended by doctors and use in hospitals. Founded in 1961 by Olle Larsson and headquartered in Switzerland, under the leadership of Olle Larsson’s son Michael, Medela has become a driving force in breastfeeding products and medical vacuum technology thanks to continued research, innovation and the evaluation of customers' needs.  With my extensive advocacy and promotion on the benefits of early and exclusive breastfeeding for the mum and their baby, it is fitting that Medela Cares has partnered with my Wellbeing Foundation Africa to collaborate on our intrinsic synergies in alignment with UN’s Every Woman, Every Child. Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival. Breastmilk is the ideal food for infants providing all the energy and nutrients they need, especially premature babies in the NICU who are more susceptible to infections. It is safe, clean and contains antibodies that help protect against many common infant and childhood illnesses. Women who breastfeed also have a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers.  Currently, Nigeria is the 6th for infant mortality globally, and in children younger than 5 years, 47% of deaths occur in the first 28 days of life, many of which are preventable and can be addressed through improved nutrition with mother’s milk.  Unfortunately, Nigeria, with one of the highest premature delivery rates in the world, also has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world with only 17% of mothers exclusively breastfeeding their children through 6 months. To improve these statistics, the United Nations set a global goal to improve breastfeeding rates to 50% by the year 2030, which WBFA and Medela Cares are actively working to reach.  Together, Medela Cares and the Wellbeing Foundation Africa are improving the education, tools and support offered to NICU medical professionals and new mothers of premature babies in Nigeria by delivering NICU-specific education and training on the value of human milk and how to build sufficient milk supply for long-term breastfeeding. Ensuring new mothers are wholly supported to breastfeed is not only critical for the health and wellbeing of the baby: it is linked to all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Medela Cares life-saving donation to WBFA include: 

• Symphony Pump Set
• Mobile Stand to Symphony Plus
• PersonfitPLUS Breast Shield
• Symphony Breastpump Battery Version
• Medela AG Training Material 
• Symphony Card and Cord Protector
• Breast Milk Bottles
• Lid with Opening Multi-Pack 

We are very grateful for the Medela Cares donation of their hospital-grade breast pumps, and accessories, engineered with innovative expression technology. This donation will better the lactation care provided to mothers and ultimately improve the infant feeding and health outcomes in Nigeria.

 

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Wellbeing Foundation Africa and Nutrition International LO-ORS Zinc Case Studies Contribute Key Learning To Nigeria's National Product Supply Chain Management Program.  My vision for the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) was to build an NGO which promotes an environment where the wellbeing of all can thrive. In which every man, woman, adolescent, child, and infant has reliable, obtainable health care, at all stages of life. Through our vast global partnerships and in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with measurable and meaningful outcomes, we have successfully established this vision and advocated heavily for the betterment of universal health care and practices within Nigeria.  This has led the Wellbeing Foundation Africa to actively commit to promoting comprehensive access, availability and management of Nigeria’s Essential Medicines List. One medicine in particular which we have been championing is Zinc and Low-Osmolarity oral Rehydration Solution (LO-ORS) to combat childhood diarrhoea.  Diarrhoea is the second commonest cause of childhood mortality among children under 5 years of age globally. Each episode contributes to a significant nutritional deprivation that negatively affects child growth, particularly in more serious and prolonged episodes. The mortality of diarrhoea remains high in Africa, despite being easily treated with Zinc LO-ORS.  Within Nigeria, Diarrhoea is the second largest cause of death in children, responsible for an estimated 151,700 children dying in Nigeria every year. It remains an immense threat to child survival in Nigeria with 10% of deaths in children under five resulting from this disease. The national diarrhoea prevalence rate also varies considerably from region to region, with the highest in the North-East and North-West of Nigeria at 24.7%  and 14 % respectively, while lowest rate was recorded in the South-West region having a prevalence of 5.3%, largely influenced by socio-economic status of households. Our advocacy efforts bore fruit 2012, when WBFA in collaboration with the WHO PMNCH, UN Every Woman Every Child Initiative, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and the Federal Ministry of Health succeeded in integrating Zinc LO-ORS into Nigeria’s Essential Medicines List, which led to saving over 1,000,000 lives. Nigeria still suffers from a high death rate due to diarrhoea which undermines the accomplishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) if left unmanaged, as the understanding and implementation of Zinc LO-ORS is not universally adopted in Nigeria. When WBFA identified these gaps, and that Diarrhoea prevalence and treatment in Nigeria is substantially higher in the Northern regions, we engaged Nutrition International (NI) as a partner to support the Scaling up Zinc and LO-ORS to improve Childhood Diarrhoea treatment in two states - Sokoto and Kano in Northern Nigeria - in order to further improve their performances towards ensuring equity in the distribution of wealth and healthcare services related to diarrhoea management across the country. Our partnership allows both technical and financial support to Kano and Sokoto to address key factors associated with high diarrhoea morbidity and mortality, including the bottlenecks associated with the supply chain in diarrhoea treatment. Therefore, this week the Wellbeing Foundation Africa is extremely proud to be presenting and participating at the Stakeholders Meeting on the National Product Supply Chain Management Program (NPSCMP) New Approaches to DRF/DMA Set-Up. WBFA’s journey in the implementation of Zinc and LO-ORS to improve childhood diarrhoea treatment in Northern Nigeria (Kano and Sokoto State) with a focus on DRF/DMA strengthening is of valuable knowledge for NPSCMP. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s ongoing program intervention with Nutrition International implementing - ‘Scaling up Zinc and LO-ORS to Improve Childhood Diarrhoea treatment in Northern Nigeria', supported by the Government of Canada, with a specific focus on supporting states Drug Revolving Fund mechanisms commenced in August 2021 in the two high-burden north-west states of Kano and Sokoto to:

• To provide Zinc LO-ORS to at least 80% of health facilities by 2024 using the DRF scheme.
• To achieve additional Zinc LO-ORS coverage of 1,843,832 cases across the two states by 2023.
• To increase the number of caregivers who seek care promptly for childhood diarrhoea cases diarrhoea by additional 2,238,439 caregivers.

The Project focuses on health system strengthening, comprising 2 key areas, as follows:

1. Improving quality of care: Improving the capacity (knowledge and skills) and motivation of frontline health workers to provide quality care (treatment, counselling and support) to children with diarrhoea and their caregivers. This will be accomplished through targeted training, supportive supervision and increasing access to needed tools.
2. Improving supply of Zinc LO-ORS to health facilities to improve availability of the commodities in a sustainable manner. NI will focus on improving state procurement systems for the commodities and support the states to implement or strengthen Drug Revolving Fund (DRF) schemes that incorporate Zinc LO-ORS to complement existing health commodity procurement systems in the states. The project is strengthening the capacity of the state SPHCDA and other line managers at different levels to be able to manage the DRF scheme.

WBFA is currently working in 173 healthcare facilities within 151 communities and has reached over 126,226 caregivers through our program. Since the launch of the program, a total of 1,055 healthcare workers from both States;  577 from Kano State (281 male and 296 female) and 478 from Sokoto State (248 male and 230 female) have been trained specifically on the best practices of Integrated Management of Childhood  Illnesses (IMCI). In addition, a total of 18,606 caregivers, nearly all of them women, have been educated on the use of Zinc LO-ORS for the management of diarrhoea disease in the two selected states. We are proud that the program is conducted in close collaboration with the State Primary Health care development agency and the states’ Ministry of Health. Relevant units and departments include primary health care (SPHCDA) and pharmaceutical services (SPHCDA and/or SMOH), State medical store or the DRF coordinating unit in the target states. Activities are conducted at state, LGA and health facility levels, targeting facilities providing diarrhoea treatment services. The WFBA NI partnership played a strong role in strengthening the DRF scheme in the state, and our successes, challenges, and learning during the program are full of insight. Through our programming, WBFA has been able to provide technical assistance to the state, ensuring its investment in its DRF scheme, which also highlights increased revenue for the facilities to be self-sustaining. This also led to the transparent introduction of PHR into all facilities in the state. A few key lessons we learned throughout was that Kano State has been able to sustain the DRF scheme in the last 14 years piloted by a few local governments. This, paired with improved commitment from the state government and support from WBFA NI, led to the state being able to review its DRF tool which was last reviewed 8 years ago. Therefore, good political will and sustainable partnership between governmental and non-governmental agencies are key to the sustenance of DRF in the state.  Pre-program, there was a lack of formal training on the DRF scheme by key stakeholders and healthcare workers, which was identified as a major challenge in confronting the successful implementation of the DRF scheme in the 2 states. Following the technical support from WBFA/NI on the training of healthcare workers, there was a large improvement in understanding and knowledge capacity. Thus, it is recommended that because the majority of participants lack formal training and understanding of the scheme, it is important that stakeholders are periodically engaged in reinforcement training on the DRF Scheme. There is also a need for continuous collaboration between the Federal, State, and Local governments and healthcare facilities on the DRF scheme. The government should leverage the temporary technical and financial support provided by the private sector and donors, as this will go a long way in ensuring the sustainability of the scheme over time. Supporting Sokoto and Kano states to increase and sustain availability and access to Zinc  LO-ORS commodities by strengthening their Drug Revolving Fund schemes is catalysing modern medicine. This is done through a better supply chain and financial procurement management in tangential action with health systems strengthening, deploying a dedicated midwifery and nursing workforce to reach community health care facilities and households, and creating statewide behavioural change that delivers measurable improvements where they are needed most.  As WBFA commits to continued cooperation and collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health, stakeholders and partners for harmonised policy strengthening and implementation, and as we share success stories, case studies and lessons learnt from DRF engagement, we recognise that improving treatment outcomes in childhood diarrhoea requires access and availability to medicines that mothers trust.  Access to essential medicines and other health care products is a human right irrespective of socio-economic status and will allow us to realise our sustainable development goals. Most leading causes of death and disability can easily be alleviated, treated and prevented with cost-effective essential medicines. We must work towards the accessibility and availability of these life-saving medicines. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa reiterates our commitment to developing and supporting a strategic plan in which procurement, storage, inventory management, distribution and policy creation can be done efficiently and widely. We must build a resilient health system that ensures access to basic health care services in a sustainable manner for all.  

 

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I am delighted to announce that the World Health Organization Foundation has named me their Inaugural Global Health Ambassador.  Since the commencement of the WHO Foundation last year, I have been in awe of the dedication, energy and far-reaching ability of the organization to excite the global community towards the shared goal of strengthening our global health ecosystem.  In the short space of time since its inception, the WHO Foundation has exemplified tackling the biggest global health challenges collaboratively. Their battle for equity and accessibility throughout the COVID-19 pandemic by way of managing the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund (SRF) has been inspiring. Additionally, the launch of the ‘Go Give One’ campaign has created a pathway for an individual to contribute towards vaccine equity, and a strong fundraising drive has led to an impressive $20 million being raised by the foundation in just over six months.  This speaks volumes of not only the WHO Foundation’s visionary leadership, but of a united belief that the foundation can truly bring together every global citizen to play a role in world health and address the most pressing health challenges of today and tomorrow, to bring about the necessary change needed. As Founder-President of The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, and having served as a special adviser to WHO AFRO, I have been an active global advocate for women’s and children’s health and empowerment, with my advocacy covering reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health; ending gender-based discrimination and violence; and improving education, socio-economic empowerment, and community livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore it feels like a natural progression for the blossoming collaboration between my advocacy, philanthropy, and the WHO Foundation values to unite. I truly believe our intrinsic synergies will create a powerful platform to fight the many challenges faced in global health.  As I come into my role, I must acknowledge that now more than ever, it is clear that our health is not guaranteed. While healthcare and life expectancy has made great strides in our lifetimes, there is still much we have yet to understand or uncover, especially when it comes to preventative care. As we continue to see with COVID-19, we are also completely under-prepared to fight new viruses and emerging illnesses. Now with climate change becoming an incorporating factor in healthcare, these challenges, epidemics and pandemics are heightened.    Our goal as advocates, thought-leaders, private sector driving forces and changemakers at large, is to support and strengthen the directives and efforts of Governments, CSOs, Policymakers and Agents of Change. Moving forward, societal support must look like contributions; financial and otherwise - particularly from the private pillars within society, industry influencers and members of the public. Global health needs us all, from every country, to work as one. We must all dedicate ourselves to keeping the world safe, and advocate for the protection of the most vulnerable. By working together, we can change the lives of future generations. I look forward to propelling one of the world’s most influential global health initiatives forward through the joint force and work we have initiated. We have set out to protect the health and well-being of everyone, in every part of the world, and I am honoured as the Inaugural Ambassador to reiterate my commitment to the development, growth and mission of the WHO Foundation, and to support the World Health Organization (WHO) and the global health community.  Official Press Release  

 

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Women deserve to live without fear of harassment or violence! I was honoured to join Global Citizen, UN Women, the Federal Minister of Women Affairs and several active national organisation in vowing to raise our collective voices to improve the lives and outcomes of the world’s most marginalised and vulnerable people - at the Global Citizen High-Level Roundtable in Abuja focused on ‘Action Against Gender-Based Violence: Full Domestication of VAPP Act by All States in Nigeria’.  As a female leader, and Founder and President of The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, an NGO which works to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for women, infants and children, advocacy for women and children across Nigeria and the topic of gender-based violence is extremely near and dear to me. We are currently in the midst of a shadow pandemic that affects women and girls disproportionately.  Gender-Based Violence remains a scourge in Nigeria society where women and girl children are more at the receiving end than their male counterparts. 30% of Nigerian women have experienced physical violence by age 15 and 28% of Nigerian women aged 25-29 have experienced some form of physical violence (NDHS 2013). From female genital mutilation to early forced marriage being a cultural norm in Nigeria, with 43% of girls married before the age of 18, Nigeria is currently ranked as the 7th most dangerous country for women to live in. GBV remains an oppressive form of gender inequality, posing a fundamental barrier to the equal participation of women and men in social, economic, and political spheres. This calls for emergency and urgent action to protect women and girls in our country.  Much work has been done since 2012’s ‘Reducing Domestic Violence Campaign’when an unprecedented and independent WBFA survey and documentary collaboration with the Global Foundation For Elimination Of Domestic Violence and Peace One Day revealed that 1 in every 5 women in Nigeria had encountered some form of discrimination and GBV. GBV is a ‘secret sin’, many women and girls are victims, yet keep quiet. This is a matter that should never be trivialized. We as a society need to stop providing an environment that condones remaining in abusive relationships and situations.  That Reducing Domestic Violence campaign ignited public discourse - and an increase in reporting - yet today in 2021, gender-based violence is still such a prevalent and recurring issue in Nigeria, affecting women and girls of all ages. Not long after, in 2014, Nigeria was confronted with the abduction of the Chibok Schoolgirls, prompting an international and local outcry.  Yet, in May of 2020, we lost Vera Uwaila “Uwa” Omozuwa, a 22-year old student at the University of Benin who went to her church to read in a quiet space when she was brutally raped. The viral photos of her bludgeoned body have reverberated around the world, adding fire to the flames of the conversation about brutality, violence and lack of a framework for social justice and responsibility; she died of her injuries on the 30th of May 2020. During that same period of time, in Lagos, 16-year-old Tina Ezekwe was trying to get on a bus when a drunken, corrupt police officer attempted to bribe the driver, leading to a sloppy confrontation and shots fired: the bullet pierced through the upper left side of her lap. The battle to save her life lasted for two days, and she died on the 28th of May 2020. These cases spotlight what has been blindingly evident since the forced abductions of the Chibok and Dapchi Schoolgirls: we are continuously failing our women and girls. When the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act was signed into law in May 2015, it shed a glimmering light of hope for many women and girls across the country. Unfortunately, to date, not all states have passed the Act. With strong advocacy from the Nigerian Governors Wives Forum, UN Women, and Stand to End Rape, we were able to reach  30 out of 36 states which have passed the Act through their state legislative house. This is not good enough, we must amplify and drive the Roadmap to 36 States: Full Domestication and Implementation of the VAPP Act campaign. My organization, Wellbeing Foundation Africa, works to strengthen our primary health, education and workplace structures by integrating PSVI at the frontline will bring equity and efficiency to our preventive and response mechanisms. Because we cannot ordinarily intrude into the home and household behaviours, we need a one-stop approach at our first external levels, at the first outside points of health, work/enterprise and education. Pervasive, gender-based violence is not inevitable - It can and must be prevented.  The Wellbeing Foundation Africa creates safe spaces for women and girls by believing survivors, adopting comprehensive and inclusive approaches that tackle the root causes, transforming harmful social norms, and empowering women and girls.  This approach has especially been integrated throughout our Mamacare360 Antenatal and Postnatal Community Midwifery and Adolescent PSHE WASH Program which affords professional safe space counselling and referrals in instances of GBV. Through our continuous program delivery, WBFA frontline health workers reach countless pregnant and newly delivered women, adolescent girls, their educators and families each month - and are skilled to provide these resources.  The Wellbeing Foundation is also committed to achieving the 3 zeros of Zero unmet needs for family planning and services, zero preventable maternal and infant deaths, zero sexual and gender-based violence including early and forced marriage, as well as female genital mutilation. WBFA is doing so by advancing universal access to sexual and reproductive health, reinforcing the goal to end preventable maternal deaths and empowering the younger generation to know their social, sexual and reproductive health and rights. We must also create a national strategy to educate, empower and heal the nation from the ingrained stigma and predominance of GBV. This would include actualising Nigeria’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which incorporates PSVI, accountability and ensuring its adoption is consistent as we continue the advocacy and work. Successful national implementation of the VAPP Act would of course have to take into account the characteristics of Nigeria and our people. In our culture, we do not like to talk about sexual violence - consider what it must be like for those in a conflict setting; for the marginalized women and girls who are already on the brink of being bereft of all their rights. When the empowered ones amongst us do not like to talk about it, what about the ones with no rights at all? We need to invest in women’s groups to lead grassroots efforts and engage with political and religious leaders so that we can shift the shame and stigma of sexual violence from the victims onto the perpetrators and get this act signed in the last remaining six states. In November 2019, I joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in launching the Commonwealth Gender Equality Policy and the Commonwealth SAYS NO MORE Initiative at the kind invitation of Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, to raise public awareness of Violence Against Women, to measure progress towards eliminating it, and to continue to mobilise people everywhere to bring about change by leveraging successful strategies to end domestic violence and sexual assault. If we strengthen our global, national and sub-national community as a whole beyond the government, then that community is better placed to support those in distress; those who have been the victim of conflict and sexual violence. This is a necessity that must resonate across all our states.   The African continent, and Nigeria within it, are facing a displacement and refugee crisis. We must create a model which aids survivors in Northern Nigeria and IDP camps - one which uses public hospitals as a base to provide comprehensive services which each survivor needs -  medical care, psychosocial support, police and legal support, and a collection of legal evidence. We know that in some cases women in displacement camps in Nigeria have resorted to exchanging sex for food or money, so they can feed their families.  A national strategy must restore dignity and safety to these women, no woman or child should ever be forced into sexual transactions, begging for change or modern slavery for survival. I would like to see the mainstreaming of counsellors and clinics in every camp so the help is there where needed, and a formal referral mechanism between the camp authorities and humanitarian organizations so that displaced women and girls can, as standard, access gender-based violence screening services. Let's start with asking women if they have been the victim of bullying; rather than even talking about violence immediately. That way we won’t miss the issue, because someone who is already so vulnerable is far more likely to confess to being bullied or coerced than to rape or sexual violence.  Following the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, where there are restrictions to movement and families staying together more, the incidence of GBV grew exponentially, leaving the more vulnerable gender to groan in silence. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, through our midwives, was at the forefront of campaigning and advocating against any form of physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse, threats, coercion and economic or educational deprivation against women and girls. Unfortunately, there was an upsurge in reports of rape across Nigeria during this period. Rape still remains at an epidemic level in Nigeria, and there are no accurate statistics on its prevalence.   Most cases of rape go unreported, due to the fear of stigmatisation, victim-blaming and a lack of trust in the police and judiciary. In 2019, I had advocated for SARC Centres to be established at hospitals - GBV cases should be promptly prosecuted within reasonable timeframes, and in line with the law, regardless of interference by interested parties. Through this, we can begin to build trust and data which will help inform the national strategy and create a safer Nigeria. As the pandemic persists, we cannot afford to see another 297% increase in reported domestic violence as we saw between March and April of 2020 in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja.  The VAPP act also needs to be wholly adopted, as some states which have passed the act are significantly reducing punishments for violence against women and girls. There should be no modification or lessening of this act, we cannot afford for more women and young girls to lose their lives in vain with no justice whatsoever.  It is time for accountability. We need to not only involve civil society but also the duty bearers. The main duty bearer here is the Government which should set up a proper social referral system within existing structures. We must call for more collaboration among states, non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations as well as government agencies such as the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons to expose and prosecute sexual offenders, and promote the implementation of VAPP across the remaining states. Therefore, today on behalf of all Nigerian women and girls, I would like to restate the demand for the domestication of the VAPP Act in all 36 States and the FCT to enable a nationally coordinated implementation strategy against GBV. Until all 36 states are on board, we will not be able to build standard services across the nation, which we need to respond to individuals, families and communities facing this crisis.  Thank you to everyone who has joined the discussion today to commit to preventing gender-based violence in Nigeria and for your ongoing partnership in this area. I look forward to further discussions and, most importantly, joint and collaborative actions, together - to normalize and mainstream PSVI actions until ending gender-based violence is our standard and regular routine community of practice.

I was pleased to join the UNHCR at the 36 Million Solutions: Africa Private Sector Forum on Forced Displacement throughout the week. From my important high-level yet candid bilateral conversation with UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner, Kelly T Clements, to joining Michel Sidibé of the Africa Union Special Envoy for The African Medicine Agency, Dr. Githinji Gitahi - CEO Amref Health Africa, Diana Mulili - Chief Growth Officer at Xetova and Nancy Moloantoa of Open Society Foundation on the panel for Inclusive Health Systems - The Only Way, this week highlighted the importance of uniting Africa’s business and industry leaders with philanthropists, refugee change-makers, and the public sector when designing market-based approaches to leverage the potential and power of the 36 million solutions who are forcibly displaced across our continent. Africa hosts the largest number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide: 36 million. 36 million families and neighbours. 36 million customers and suppliers. 36 million innovators, entrepreneurs, and employers. The intimate forum and gathering hosted by the UNHCR was a unique opportunity to inspire and encourage African-led solutions to the issues of forced displacement across our continent. As an advocate for healthcare - I was pleased to join the panel for Inclusive Health Systems - The Only Way. Every person deserves the right to dignified healthcare, regardless of their migration status. Yet, health systems too often fail forcibly displaced people, who already face numerous obstacles in accessing high-quality care. COVID-19 has exposed the inequities in healthcare and the reality that its delivery cannot be separated from the unique economic, cultural and social circumstances of communities in need. African countries have historically opened their borders and hearts to families fleeing war, violence, conflict, or persecution. Countries that receive and host refugees, often for extended periods, make an immense contribution from their own limited resources to the collective good and to the cause of humanity.  In Nigeria for example, we have 3 million people internally displaced and another 74,000 refugees and asylum seekers. Many of these people have been in this situation for years, and greater support and services are required to help them rebuild their lives.  Along with this, we have a population of 206 million people with nearly half living below the poverty line. These numbers may give us insight, but they often fail to tell the full story of the dire situation that has befallen so many due to the lack of universal health care or access to healthcare that can allow people to live longer, increase their incomes, and lead to positive socio-economic gains for their families.  The major constraint of our current system is that vulnerable people usually lack the funds to pay for healthcare. Health care financing in Nigeria is mainly through out of pocket payment, and most people cannot afford to pay. Another challenge we face is the quality of health care available in most rural communities. The system is very weak, even our best hospitals have poor infrastructure, with few properly trained personnel, very little equipment, and a lack of sustainable medications supply model. Combining both of these with a lack of education surrounding maternal health, creates a critical and urgent situation for many women, children and vulnerable people in Nigeria.  My Wellbeing Foundation Africa has operated for close to 20 years with a set of 10 core rights-based principles to improve the health and wellbeing of childbearing women and their newborns. We believe that we must support a call to mobilise resources to deliver the same standard to the women and children of Nigeria, and refugee and displaced communities: 

• Pregnant women should receive the right care, at the right times.
• Newborns should receive essential care immediately after birth.
• Small and sick babies should be well cared for in a facility.
• All women and newborns must receive care that prevents hospital-acquired infections.
• Health facilities must have an appropriate physical environment. 
• Communication with women and their families must be effective and responsive to their needs (including nutrition advice at the antenatal stage). 
• Women and newborns who need referrals can obtain them without delay. 
• No woman should be subjected to harmful practices during labour, childbirth, and the early postnatal period.
• Health facilities need well-trained and motivated staff consistently available to provide care. 
• Every woman and newborn should have a complete, accurate, and standardized medical record.

These core rights-based principles should be universal in healthcare alongside an accessible and inclusive health care system. We also ought to recognise the roles that cultural, economic and social access to healthcare play at large - in other words, the social determinants of health, from conception and birth to age.  I have always made it a priority to ensure that the needs of women and families are met, and respected without taking away from what they are culturally and socially familiar with. This is particularly important for women and families who have very limited choice when it comes to where they live, survive and thrive, yet I also recognise that many communities possess the knowledge of what they want and need, to save and nurture lives. In addition to this, I have always believed in the Midwife and the Nurse being at the frontline, and at the centre of women-centred care - after all, they understand womens’ anatomy and women’s biological processes best - we should empower and equip midwives and nurses, as caring community professionals, to empower others accordingly.  The flagship program of my Wellbeing Foundation Africa is MamaCare360*. We currently run from 31 cluster hubs across Kwara, Lagos, Osun and Kaduna States, and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja with a cumulative daily attendance of at least 2,000 women per state and more than 230,000 repeated contacts to date. As a result of this continuum, we have been able to increase pregnant women’s antenatal care attendance to the WHO LMIC recommendation in 8 visits during pregnancy and puerperium at each healthcare facility. From a maternal and general public health perspective, the continuum of care concept must include every child, woman and family in its definition; irrespective of their socio-economic background, commitment, consistency and the lack thereof. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s Mamacare360 Program is hinged on the model and practice of a community comprehensive care and continuum of care. From conception to birth, to cradle and right through to age, a true continuum (and access to) of care is afforded every woman - irrespective of social and eco-determinants.  MamaCare360* takes a whole community approach from the hut and household to the health facility, ensuring women have the knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver safely, nurture and nourish their children, improve their economic prospects, and be a rights-based partner in a healthier national, and therefore global outcome - in other words, our women can be the key drivers of our attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. Migration Health must also be conceptualised and actualised here in order for true equity and accessibility to occur. How do we welcome and ensure one central education and personal health record system that will ensure a true continuum of care in all of the directions required? As childbirth is a universal process that does not respect circumstances - all of my work is focused on safer births and better early childhood development within a routinely delivered health, education, gender and social paradigm that includes nutrition, WASH, and SGBV-SARC dimension - essential services that are needed more by those forced to flee or suffering from poverty. Every refugee and vulnerable person deserves their rights to health guaranteed in any host location, powered by health-enhanced certifiable identities. Health costs, accessibility and eligibility should not be included on the list of the acclimatisation of deprivation that displaced people should have to consider. Policymakers, thought-leaders, governments and CSOs have received the perfect chance to re-organise and realign the ways in which the concept of ‘delivery’ becomes actualised across a plethora of sectors. But from an advocacy, community-centred service and support function perspective, we must dive deeper and further to ensure that truly, no one is left behind.  That is why I call on the private sector in Africa. Our private sector has often been at the forefront of creating solutions that lift thousands of marginalized and underserved communities out of abject poverty. Unfortunately, often enough forcibly displaced people who represent some of the most vulnerable communities on the continent, are overlooked and therefore do not fully benefit from the innovative solutions and social investment programs spearheaded by the private sector in Africa.  Therefore, with this knowledge and the aid of the UNHCR and their forum, Africa’s private sector is positioned to be a critical agent of change. As investors in refugee-hosting communities, as partners, donors or employers, the private sector must continue to increasingly step into the humanitarian relief space to support innovative responses to the urgent and critical needs of the vulnerable communities. 

The marginalised can not continue to be penalised for circumstances beyond their control. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa joins Women in Global Health, and the World Health Organization member states and non-states in the timely and important discussions regarding the Pandemic Treaty this week. For the Treaty to strengthen pandemic prevention and responses, it must also recognise the consistent inequalities faced throughout COVID-19 and ensure equitability is highlighted. Gender equity in particular must be at the forefront of our post-pandemic rebuild. Creating a healthier, safer, and fairer world, means advocating for the most vulnerable through prioritizing human rights, gender mainstreaming, universal health system strengthening and improved funding mechanisms.   As the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence continues, we have seen first-hand how the pandemic increased the care workload, obstructed access to sexual and reproductive health services, and increased violence for women and girls primarily. Yet, women’s experiences and voices continue to be marginalised. The WHO must promote gender parity and diversity in COVID-19 leadership. Women and girls in the Global South have been disproportionately impacted throughout the pandemic and this has penetrated into the healthcare system as well. Women make up 70% of the health workforce yet are still overlooked, with COVID-19 task forces globally only having 24% representation from women. Women must be participants in all stages of decision-making processes, and mainstream a gender perspective in the COVID-19 response and recovery. This extends to scientific advisor groups, panels and consultations as they have the first-hand experience to provide an insight that will design a resilient, accessible and quality care health system. This evidence-based policy making and advocacy, paired with enhanced data collection and analysis will enable better health and social outcomes to occur.  These critical issues filter into establishing a human rights first approach. Equitable universality principles must be embodied throughout our future preparedness and response so that we can properly assess and provide support to infection and incidence. This includes collaboration with human rights and civil society groups in preparedness, as they are at the frontlines bearing the brunt of the epidemic lifecycle on the most vulnerable groups. A well-assessed treaty will improve human rights obligations while augmenting the existing international human rights law and standards.  Currently, fewer than 6% of people in the African continent have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with health workers and vulnerable populations still waiting for their first dose. This is due to a lack of funding and inequitable access, which plays a critical role in the surveillance of emergent variants. We cannot ignore the hardest hit and most vulnerable populations during a public health emergency. Funding mechanisms must be expanded to reach low-income countries, possibly with a system in place for high-income countries to support low-income countries in an accountable manner. By the end of 2022, over 12 billion doses of vaccines will have been produced, enough to vaccinate the entire world, yet we still face such low-rates due to accessibility and information access issues in the Global South.  We are exhibiting first-hand the global inequality that has led to a grossly uneven distribution of vaccines, vital healthcare tools and PPE which has made fragile health systems crumble throughout developing nations. To tackle this, the Treaty must commit to sharing knowledge, data, information, and resources to create a worldwide health system that is ready to respond to the next pandemic. This One Health approach will foster trust and accountability, allowing pandemic preparedness to become standard.  Of all Wellbeing Africa Foundation programming across Nigeria, the 2 programs that were most prophetic of the skills and capacities needed to combat COVID-19 during the restrictions of socially distanced physical lockdowns, were the organic introduction of Mamacare360 and MaternalMonday Whatsapp Groups to continue the conversations in our Mamacare360 antenatal and post-natal classes, along with WASH For Wellbeing program, teaching clean hygiene to mothers and medical workers in HCF, and its counterpart Primary and Adolescent PSHE-WASH in Schools. These focused platforms were initiated in April 2018, as responsive commitments to both the UN Secretary General’s call for improved WASH, the WHO Resolution on Hygiene in Health Care Facilities, and the WBFA stark finding that only 22% of Delivery Rooms in Nigeria had direct access to a basin, soap, and clean water. As Covid-19 appeared, WBFA was positioned in 670 communities, to ramp up the key learnings for social behavioural change, right in the communities and households, schools and marketplaces where trusted learning needed to reach. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa continues in its quest to develop a concrete Nigerian-wide public health informed approach that looks at the factors and responds with key actions for individual women, children, their families and the schools and health facilities within their communities in which they live that make it more or less likely that vulnerability and adversity in childhood has a lasting impact on their lives. A holistic inclusive approach, that takes the community midwifery approach further into a school nurse-visitor information, education and learning approach, and a reporting index will address inequality and the broader causes of vulnerability which might otherwise be overlooked to support decision-making and prioritisation. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa is leading a Call-To-Action for: Implementation of Gender Mainstreaming Strategy: Vaccine Equity; Funding Stronger Healthcare Systems and Consistent Respect for Human Rights. Universal Health Coverage must be assessed by the states in Nigeria as primary health services should be accessible to all during all health crises.  Women health workers are our global health security, they deserve better, they need better pay and leadership opportunities. As the pandemic persists they continue to be mentally exhausted and undervalued.  For this Treaty to produce viable outcomes, it must recognize that our global health emergency responses cannot be constructed on the most vulnerable and marginalized women. It is clear that an equity-first approach will be needed to tackle these severe disparities, and those with a voice must advocate for that equity so that we may rebuild and re-envision a stronger healthier world.

I am delighted to start this year's 16 Days of Activism by advocating to the participants of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies NILDS, United Nations Development Program UNDP and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women UNWomen Capacity Building Workshop for Female Legislators and Female Politicians on Lawmaking and Lobbying, at Abuja. It is indeed a very timely initiative, as today, November 25th, marks the start of 16 Days of Activism and activities marked annually, to highlight Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. As a Pioneer Member and Steering Council Member of the UN Women’s African Women Leaders Network Initiative globally and in Nigeria respectively, I am thrilled that this workshop will inspire new energy and technical skills needed to accelerate working together for Gender Equality, namely: - Women’s Political Participation - Women’s Economic Empowerment - Women Peace And Security and Humanitarian Action - Ending Violence Against Women Thus, the enactment of gender-sensitive legislation and domestication of international conventions, statutes and promotion of women's participation in politics and governance in Nigeria is on the front burner of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls for a just and fair society (a pointer to SDG 5). Lack of political representation is a major cause of both gender inequality and generation inequality. Of all national parliaments at the beginning of 2019, only 24.3% of the seats were filled by women. As of June 2019, 11 Heads of State were women. Despite progress in this area over the years, women are still grossly underrepresented in government and the political process. This means that certain issues that female politicians tend to bring up- such as parental leave and childcare, pensions, gender equality laws and gender-based violence are often neglected. Regarding the target of generation equality, the Wellbeing For Women Africa Youth Voices Initiative's 2020 Wa Wimbi Report found that the political, social and economic dispensation in Africa is highly defined and structured whereby culture defines the socio-economic and political discourse. Furthermore, there are pockets of scenarios where leadership is passed from masculine generation to generation. Potentially, these situations can lead to conflicts and partisan control of public resources and access to opportunities. While these factors are not solely the causes of strife and conflict - where women suffer the most - they are a catalyst. Through human capital development especially for young people, there are opportunities to initiate and drive socio-economic processes to socially and economically empower young professional women. As a build-up to this action, the WBW Youth Voices Initiative engaged its youth partners to conduct a survey, the primary objective of which was to provide empirical data on probable bottlenecks faced by young women in access to and uptake of leadership and decision-making opportunities across Africa. The survey sought to: a) Collect and analyse cultural and socio-economic scenarios faced by young women in leadership and decision making spaces; b) Analyse the current employment market to identify professional opportunity trends where sustained and dignified professional engagements are attained based on merit; c) Document constraints and barriers faced by young and vulnerable women in the labour market; and, d) Provide an analytical review of the most viable scenarios that could help young women as beneficiaries. The study included a total of 239 participants both on and offline, there were 75 online respondents, 19 KII and 145 participants from 15 FGD. The study involved responses from 18 African countries namely Botswana, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Cameroon, DRC, Egypt, Ghana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. According to this survey on the bottlenecks women face in leadership and governance, on a broad scale, most respondents find women indistinguishable from men on key leadership actions such as influence, merit, capacity and mental willpower to lead, organise and implement. The study analysis presented in this report confirms that presently, leadership and governance are dominated by men despite the existence of administrative and policy provisions in many organisations seeking to frontload women as equals in merit. Furthermore, the submissions by the survey respondents indicate that whilst there is a general push for women to take up leadership positions, as evidenced in access to leadership spaces (albeit limited), policy provisions and merit over gender among others, there are still overbearing social and cultural norms which seem to continually limit the spaces and counter strides made. Young women’s leadership is undermined in the civic space despite the advances in youth engagement over the years. The current configuration of youth organisations is not enough to ensure or sustain the effective leadership of young women in international development and any progress within youth spaces is still largely affected by the preferences of young men in power. Within the current global context, women are given promises of equal representation but often find the reins of power in the hands of others. To improve access to leadership and governance spaces in a demand-driven system in the context of development, it is imperative to involve women in all components of development programming. Institutions must recognise and take up this driving factor as an enabler to achieving equity and ensuring strategic opportunities for all. One of the core objectives at WBFA is advocating for gender equality with the acknowledgement that the status of women, children and families in Africa require improved resources, support, and advocacy. Our policy goals on women, girls, and gender development span various interventions with a core towards advocating for the right of every woman to leadership and political participation. This is achieved by promoting women’s leadership and participation in all sectors, ensuring that women are accorded equal opportunities and supported to lead and participate in politics either through elections or by appointments. It is for this very reason that my Wellbeing Foundation Africa is committed to its ongoing leadership of Nigeria Country Mobilisation for the ICPD25 International Conference on Population and Development Commitments towards the 3 zero’s of: 1) Zero Preventable Maternal Deaths, 2) Zero Unmet Need for Family Planning, and 3) Zero Sexual and Gender-Based Violence. While we commend the passage and implementation progress of the VAPP Legislation, tangential to these targets, there is a need to continue to work collectively towards the prevention of sexual violence in conflict (PSVI), and the domestication of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security. We must also redouble efforts towards the reintroduction and eventual passage of the Gender Equality and Opportunity Bill into law. Therefore, it is my hope that the participants at this 2-day event will leverage on knowledge gained to stimulate their interest more in lawmaking and lobbying and equip themselves with the technical capacity on legislations and domestication of international conventions and statutes with the desired outcomes of increasing women in politics and leadership positions to make positive impacts that will continue to make the world a better place.

I am delighted to announce the launch of the field implementation component of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa and Nutrition International Scaling Up Zinc and LO-ORS project to combat diarrhoea in Kano and Sokoto states in Nigeria. The project is funded by the Government of Canada and seeks to increase timely care-seeking and treatment of diarrhoea with zinc and low-osmolarity oral rehydration salts. In partnership with the Ministries of Health in both states, my Wellbeing Foundation Africa and Nutrition International will target caregivers with messages promoting prompt care-seeking for children with diarrhoea and adherence to treatment with zinc and LO-ORS. As the implementing partner on the Wellbeing Foundation Africa-Nutrition International Scaling Up Zinc and LO-ORS Project in Kano and Sokoto states, I am delighted that this intervention is aptly taking place at a time when diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases are threatening the livelihoods of Nigerians, especially in the northwestern part. We are grateful to the Ministry of Health, State Primary Health Care Development Agencies and other ministries, departments and agencies within the states for their dedication and commitment to this project, and also to all the frontline health workers who are leading the charge to curb the menace of diarrhoea within northwestern Nigeria. The states will also receive technical and financial support to build the capacity of healthcare providers to treat diarrhoeal cases with zinc and LO-ORS and communicate with caregivers about the treatment, ensuring they can provide care for cases seen in health facilities or within the community. Nutrition International truly believes in enhancing child survival, and that scaling up zinc and LO-ORS to improve childhood diarrhoea treatment contributes heavily to that. Diarrhoea is preventable and we must focus on continuously improving our prompt health-seeking behaviour, while sustaining availability and access to quality zinc and LO-ORS in public health facilities in the states. The project has already trained nearly 200 health workers and administrators of selected primary and secondary health facilities in Kano and Sokoto states. By 2023, we are looking to increase the number of caregivers who seek prompt care for cases of childhood diarrhoea by an additional 2,238,439. Diarrhoea is a leading cause of malnutrition and death in children under the age of five, and malnutrition is also known to prolong episodes of diarrhoea and increase mortality. That is why it is essential for a project like this to be in place, training and retraining health workers on the integrated management of childhood illnesses to enhance the capacity of the health workers.

As we mark the second anniversary of the Nairobi Summit, stakeholders across the globe are firmly voicing their recommitment to the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action. A landmark moment, in which various interest groups came together in partnership, recognizes the accelerated efforts needed to make progress in gender equality, youth, political and community leadership, and innovation and data.  This reinvigorated engagement launched at a challenging time, as only months later, the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout this period we have seen how crucial it is to immediately address various issues from the Summit, particularly in the realm of sexual and reproductive health and rights.  The Wellbeing Foundation Africa prioritizes the most amplified issues from the summit; having a global impact that advocates for women, children and families, through empowering and educating frontline health workers while increasing accessibility to health care and proper hygiene.  As a community stakeholder committed to the Summits re-emphasized themes, WBFA is committed to; zero unmet needs for family planning and services, zero preventable maternal and infant deaths, zero sexual and gender-based violence including early and forced marriage, as well as female genital mutilation. WBFA is doing so by advancing universal access to sexual and reproductive health, reinforcing the goal to end preventable maternal deaths by creating safe spaces, and empowering the younger generation to know their social, sexual and reproductive health and rights.  WBFA is doing so through the implementation of various programs such as our Mamacare360 Community Midwifery Antenatal and Postnatal Education Program which reaches on average 3700 women per month across Nigeria and delivers improved health outcomes and empowerment through education for women to make informed health decisions. To date, the program has serviced over 200,000 women. WBFA’s Adolescent Skills and Drills PSHE WASH Program also promotes respectful rights and relationships, highlighting the need to end gender-based violence and harmful practices by providing safe space counselling and access to Sexual Assault Referral Centres which reach over 1000 adolescent girls, their educators and families each month. These are just a few of the many programs initiated by WBFA which reflect our commitment to ICPD 25. These measurable actions allow us to learn and reflect as an organization, but also on a global level as we work towards a gender-equal and healthy community across the globe. As WBFA actively works towards exceeding our goals, we want to promise that we will, and encourage our counterparts to,  transparently report on progress made to fulfil these commitments. Open discourse and collaboration will be the only way to support one another and facilitate re-building back better from COVID-19 and reaching our longstanding goals. Accountability is key. WBFA also welcomes voices from all paths, as we need young and diverse perspectives in leadership to monitor the commitments made. This is our opportunity to build a stronger health system with a higher quality of care that is tailored to various groups.  As the summit was non-binding, countries and stakeholders have a choice in choosing to support the Nairobi Statement in part, entirety or not at all. That is why emphasis needs to be put on the anniversary of the Nairobi summit, as meaningful follow-up and encouragement will ensure commitments remain in the forefront and can be done so in a timely and actionable manner. We are proud to witness and report on the progress that has been made, yet there are still millions of vulnerable women and girls around the globe waiting to see their promises be fulfilled. We must raise our voices and continue to march forward to create a systemic difference so equality and safety can prevail.

I am so pleased to usher in Gender Day at the COP 26 joint session with the start of the Reykjavík Global Forum - Women Leaders, chaired by the Head of WP Leaders, distinguished Prime Minister of Iceland and honourable Speaker of Parliament. Discussing the climate crisis through a gender lens has never been so pertinent. Gender Day affords us the opportunity to recognise, and celebrate, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in both climate policy and action. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored that our collective progress towards more equal and inclusive representation hangs in the balance. 

Women continue to be disproportionally at risk for violence, discrimination and disenfranchisement around the world. But there is reason to hope. In “Finding the Path to Net Zero’ I thoroughly enjoyed the rich perspectives from my fellow panelists Marjut Falkstedt, Secretary General of the European Investment Bank, Sarah Riggs Amico, Executive Chairperson, Jack Cooper Holdings Corp, and Adenike Oladosu, Climate Activist; Founder, ILeadClimate in a reveling conversation moderated by Bayartsetseg Jigmiddash, State Secretary of Justice, Mongolia 1 (2012-2016), Senior Prevention Specialist, Green Climate Fund. Sharing pertinent point of views from industry, finance, agriculture and beyond, all ensuring that gender equality and women’s human rights are central to ongoing discussions.  

It is clear that COP26 has brought people, the planet, and prosperity together in an inspiring and energising way.  Global leaders have presented that they understand the urgency, but there is still more work to be done in recognising the frontline challenges of health and well-being in regards to the climate crisis and leveraging local knowledge and action. 

Tackling climate change also means helping people and their environment adapt and prepare for the health effects of the climate crisis which we are bound to see until we reach net-zero.


 

 

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NGOs such as my Wellbeing Foundation Africa, therefore, play a vital role in not only establishing their own mission and work but aiding vulnerable communities in adapting and understanding the effects of the climate crisis as it is interlinked with almost every aspect of life, particularly health care. 
 Human lives and health are being impacted in a variety of ways, from a lack of clean air, safe drinking water, nutritious food supply, and safe shelter. These challenges will only worsen if we do not act immediately. 
That is why WBFA will be working with our partners to enable and encourage countries affected by climate change to; protect and restore ecosystems, build defences, warning systems and resilient infrastructure and agriculture to avoid loss of homes, livelihoods and even lives.
 Global political leaders need and must continue to work with NGOs to understand that inaction on climate will also set us back decades in the societal missions and advancements made by NGOs for those who are already marginalized and disproportionately affected.

I am delighted that my Wellbeing Foundation Africa has commenced its partnership project with Nutrition International and the Governments of Kano and Sokoto States in Scaling up Zinc and LO-ORS to Improve Childhood Diarrhoea treatment in Northern Nigeria. Childhood diarrhoea remains a threat to child survival in Nigeria; 10% of deaths in children under five are due to this disease. The country still records national prevalence as high as 13%. State-specific variations in prevalence of diarrhoea are also recognised; the prevalence in the north-western states is considerably higher at 20.7% in Kano, 18.6% in Katsina, and 21.7% in Zamfara. While the number of global under-five deaths dropped to its lowest point on record in 2019 – down to 5.2 million, from 12.5 million in 1990, there are fears that numbers could rise on the back of COVID-induced disruptions to child and maternal health services, recent estimates from UNICEF, indicate.  Over the past 30 years, health services to prevent or treat causes of child death such as preterm, low birth weight, complications during birth, neonatal sepsis, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, as well as vaccination, have played a large role in saving millions of lives, added the agencies. Accelerating Frontline practices is an essential factor in improving health for all. In seeking to contribute to reducing the number of deaths due to diarrhoea among children under five In Nigeria, the project is providing both technical and financial support to Kano and Sokoto to address key factors associated with increased diarrhoea morbidity and mortality - supporting the promotion of prompt care-seeking for children with diarrhoea among caregivers as well as adherence to standard treatment (zinc and low-osmolarity oral rehydration solution [LO-ORS]). The WBFA is dedicated to implementing targeted technical and financial support to improve the capacity (knowledge, skill and attitude) of health care providers to provide quality zinc and LO-ORS and appropriate interpersonal communications for the treatment of all diarrhoea cases seen at health facility or community level service points. In addition, we aim, supported by Nutrition International, to improve the commitment of state actors, such as health managers and policy makers, to implement complementary drug revolving fund (DRF) schemes for effective availability and sustainability of health commodities, including zinc and LO-ORS.

Authors: H.E. Toyin Ojora Saraki, Founder-President The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Ms. Comfort Lamptey, UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Dr. Roopa Dahtt, Executive Director Women in Global Health, Olabukunola "Buky" Williams, Executive Director of Education As A Vaccine, Dr. Adepeju Adeniran Co-chapter Lead, Women in Global Health Nigeria.

Note: This article was published on Royal African Society, African Arguments.

  61 years after Nigeria seized the reins of independence, October 1st is a day of national reflection. The task of nation-building is a lengthy and laborious endeavour and honest introspection of our collective gains and losses must be undertaken as we map our path forward towards the goal of shared peace and prosperity. Nigeria’s achievements in human-centred development are not in question. We have excelled and exceeded in a multitude of fields with legacies in business, sports, the arts and science etching the knobs and shifting the dials on the various indicators by which we measure national ‘success’. Yet these successes have an overriding common factor: They have been steered, achieved, and celebrated predominantly by male figures. Icons and heroines of the past such as activist, political campaigner, and founder of the Nigerian Women's Union, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Margeret Ekpo, the pioneering female politician in the country's First Republic and the architect of modern pottery in Nigeria Ladi Dosei Kwali pushed open the doors of female inclusion and representation in the national space. In the male-dominated arena of finance eight women currently serve as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) or Managing Directors (MDs) of the country’s leading banks. In the fields of human rights and social welfare, in which women remain the conscience of the nation, trailblazers such as Sadiya Umar Farouq continue to fight for increased intervention. On the global stage, Nigerian women continue to shine, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) being led by Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the maverick former Nigerian Minister of Finance. The same level of global trust in the Nigerian women’s ability has witnessed the rise of Amina J. Mohammed as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, whilst in the field of literature Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie continues to keep the world spellbound, engaged and mesmerized. As global advocates of women’s rights, health and well-being, the calls for equity and equality in all sectors and especially in the health sector in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, have risen from murmurs to bellows. Women represent 70 percent of the 43 million workers in the global health care industry yet occupy only 5% of leadership positions. Ninety percent of registered nurses globally are women, women remain the backbone of the informal workforce of unpaid caregivers of sick relatives, community members and children at home. Yet, their immense contribution does not only remain generally unacknowledged, a women’s effort is yet to translate to representation on policy and decision-making tables. Health is fundamental to national, as well as global security. A gender-balanced health sector leadership in any nation, deliberately ensuring inclusiveness, while eliminating structural inequities, will deliver the population health essential to reaching the national goals of development and progressiveness. Nigerian women in health have shown great fortitude and stellar results when present in the room.  Sign-post examples include women like late Dora Akunyili, whose immense work produced game-changing policies in the Nigerian national drug-supply chain, and the late Dr. Stella Adadevoh, whose foresight changed the trajectory of the Ebola pandemic in Nigeria in 2014, which as the most populous African nation, proved to be an essential pivotal moment in the global threat of Ebola. On a less national level, Nigerian women are at the fore-front of the health development programs, as they deliver life-saving health implementation activities of malaria prevention, nutrition and, water and sanitation, essentially as house-hold partners and implementers to the national health programs. In spite of these documented examples from the bottom and the ones at the top, the public health sector leadership in Nigeria is still male-dominated, and far too much work delivered by women is not credited to them; whereas women-driven civil society leadership such as the strong advocacy trajectory of Nigeria's Wellbeing Foundation Africa continue, consistently to deliver frontline impact and women-centred results. The Nigerian health sector stands to benefit from the immense talent and perspectives that a more gender-balanced leadership that an increase in female leadership will bring. Women in global health Nigeria, a chapter of Women in global Health, was founded in response to this, and its aims to ensure this balance. It connects the work of Nigerian women, from all levels of the life-course to ensure the inclusion of a gender lens in national policy development. Women in global health Nigeria ensures that more Nigerian women will contribute from the point of view of leadership in the national health discourse, and that Nigerian women in health will receive the commensurate credit for all their contribution to the health sector; by closing the pay-gap for female health workers, and amplifying the essential work that other levels of committed Nigerian women do. Leadership at the frontline must also cascade to the household where social protection systems and networks that address the risks towards women and provide support for those facing situations of vulnerability or crisis must be strengthened. They play a vital role in protecting women from poverty and insecurity whilst helping them to cope and recover from shocks ultimately leading to the change in a woman's outcomes. At the forefront of encouraging and inspiring transformative women leadership in all spheres is the African Women Leaders Network. The COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate gendered impacts have challenged AWLN to overcome the setbacks in their goal of creating a continent-wide force of women leaders who contribute to Africa's growth, progress and prosperity by advocating on imperative causes such as reproductive health, gender-based violence, the rights of women and gender equality. This can only be achieved by elevating the status of women’s leadership in Africa and passing on the knowledge learnt by these leaders to the next generation.   The assessment of global progress towards achieving gender equality, 25 years after the Beijing Conference on Women, reveals that gains have been slow and uneven and in some cases, significant pushbacks to this agenda persist. The area where most progress has been recorded is in the adoption of laws and policies to advance women’s rights. In this respect, Nigeria’s record aligns with that of most countries.   Nigeria scored highly with respect to having in place legal frameworks that promote, enforce and monitor gender equality, according to UN Women’s Gender-specific SDG indicators (Women Count). However, the greatest hurdle remains insufficient and proper implementation and follow-up.   Nigeria has continued to make gains in women’s active inclusion in social, economic, and political spheres- however more needs to be done. Recent data from UN Women’s Women Count Data Hub^[1] indicate that in Nigeria, there is a 62% literacy rate of girls aged 15 years and above and growing concerns over the school retention and transition rates.  With all the gains made, it is crucial that gender-disaggregated data is available so as to enable effective gender programming and budgeting.   In 2020, UN Women spearheaded the ‘Generation Equality’ campaign, a global multi-stakeholder movement rallying civil society, government, activists and private sector to take bold actions as catalysts toward the vision of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action - an undisputable blueprint for a gender-equal world cosigned by women across the globe.   Gender equality is the unfinished business of each generation.   A key action of the movement in Nigeria was to facilitate intergenerational exchange between Nigerian women leaders who were present at the Beijing World Conference on Women in 1995 and today’s generation of Nigerian young women. Thanks to the 1995 generation, the Ministry of Women Affairs was born and because of the 2020 generation, women and girls issues continue to be placed at the forefront of Nigeria’s agenda.   This is the generation that tirelessly spotlighted the plight of sexual and gender-based violence in learning institutions and across leading to the declaration of a State of Emergency on GBV. This is the generation that has organised and mobilised civic action on important issues of democracy and governance.  In response to the State of Emergency, at least 23 states have now domesticated the Violence Against Person’s Prohibition (VAPP) Act compared to less than 10 in 2018. Already, ahead of the 2023 elections, youth are the highest constituency group already registering to vote and contest. Generation Equality recognizes the important roles of next generations in being changemakers and working together with gender equality advocates in their local communities - in raising awareness on gender equality with the goal of leaving no one behind.   Nigerian young women are the movers and shakers of political and civic leadership, culture and thought as well as entrepreneurship and innovation. To paraphrase the National Prayer, they are the generation that is ensuring the labours of Nigerian women heroes are not in vain. Concerted efforts must be made to ensure intentional intergenerational exchange to sustain the gains made since the Beijing Platform for Action.   It is time for the nation to embrace a leadership shift, through an enabling environment - from politics to business and society - that opens the space for young and old to have a transformative impact on our ability to make social change happen. ^[1] https://data.unwomen.org/country/nigeria

Building Resilience Through Actionable Hope – To Recover from COVID-19, Rebuild Sustainable Systems, Respond to the Needs of the Planet, Respect the Rights of People, Replenish And Redeem The Promise Of Multilateralism At The Frontline, And At Scale

 

Download Her Excellency Toyin Saraki Global Office and Philanthropy and The Wellbeing Foundation UNGA76 Advocacy And Activity Statement here: 

Keeping A Better World In View

The COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be the most challenging period the world, and the global health and development community has seen since the Second World War. It’s given way to the new disturbing normal – deepening inequalities and vulnerabilities, decimating economies and plunging millions into extreme poverty. Yet we all agree that the world must prioritize a sustainable recovery, rooted in the 2030 Agenda, and supporting countries and communities as we work to rebuild systems shattered by the pandemic. The backdrop to this year’s 76th UN General Assembly, UN Global Compact, and the important Concordia Leadership Council and Concordia Summit is a world that feels fractured — just when we need to come together against the continued ravages of COVID-19, the accelerating climate emergency, unfolding humanitarian disasters, rising inequality, and much more. Fixing it will take bold leadership, brave choices, and sustained commitments. At UNGA, it means bringing together world leaders, civil society champions, young people, global businesses and many others to reinforce and reinvigorate our collective determination to solve our shared problems.  

Bold steps towards improved community-centred care

  At the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, we have consistently honoured and expanded our central mission to make childbirth safer and reduce preventable deaths by deepening and knowledge-driven impact to community frontlines even as governments and multilateral agencies sought to strengthen health systems, deliver COVID-19 testing, treatment and equipment, and contribute to the most ambitious vaccination campaign in history.    Through the core platform at the heart of our frontline impact, the  multi-faceted institutionally endowed Mamacare360 Community Midwifery powered Antenatal and Postnatal Social and Health Education and Nursing Care Program, and to guarantee the progression of a healthy future towards attaining our Women Girls and Gender Development Targets, the WBFA has continued to promote respectful and comprehensive maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, care, and combat both non-communicable diseases and neglected tropical diseases through improvements in nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene practices. From the research bench to the health facility, household and hut in over 670 communities,  we are committed to improving competencies in clinical practice of health workers, creating an enabling environment for healthcare leaders and facility managers and enacting policy and programs that work for, and directly with, women, their newborns and their families. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) programmatic initiatives are targeted at remediating the weaknesses of health systems challenged by a myriad of issues from demand creation for health seeking orientation for social behavioural change to better supply chain management, diagnostics and treatment, all with reaching people, from conception and birth, to advanced age, and building sustainable cities to enable better health and wellbeing at the core.  Of all our programming across Nigeria, the 2 programs that were most prophetic of the skills and capacities needed to combat COVID-19 during the restrictions of socially distanced physical lockdowns, were our organic introduction of Mamacare360 and MaternalMonday Whatsapp Groups to continue the conversations in our Mamacare360 classes, and our WASH For Wellbeing program, teaching clean hygiene to mothers and medical workers in HCF, and its counterpart Primary and Adolescent PSHE-WASH in Schools. We had initiated these focused platforms in April 2018, as our responsive commitments to both the UN Secretary General’s call for improved WASH, the WHO Resolution on Hygiene in Health Care Facilities, and, our stark finding that only 22% of Delivery Rooms in Nigeria had direct access to a basin, soap, and clean water. As Covid-19 appeared, we were positioned in 670 communities, to ramp up the key learnings for social behavioral change, right in the communities and households, schools and marketplaces where trusted learning needed to reach. The WBFA continues in its quest to develop a concrete Nigeria-wide public health informed approach that looks at the contextual factors, and responds with key actions for individual women, children, their families and the schools and health facilities within their communities in which they live that make it more or less likely that vulnerability and adversity in childhood has a lasting impact on their lives. A holistic inclusive approach, that takes our community midwifery approach further into a school nurse-visitor information, education and learning approach, and a reporting index will address inequality and the broader causes of vulnerability which might otherwise be overlooked to support decision-making and prioritisation.  

Reaching the high-burden last mile

Our ongoing project with our global partner, Nutrition International has seen our program implementation model expand to Northern Nigeria where reported health indices represent the lowest and worst levels in the country. The WBFA ‘Scaling up Zinc and LO-ORS to Improve Childhood Diarrhoea Treatment’ programme which commenced in July 2021 in the two highest-burden of diarrheal disease localities, Kano State (the second most populous state in Nigeria after the megacity, Lagos) and Sokoto State - aims to redefine the health system services to sick children via improved availability and uptake of Zinc and low-osmolarity oral rehydration solution (LO-ORS) which are critical in the treatment of childhood diarrhoea. We advocate that Zinc reduces diarrhoea-specific mortality by 23% and LO-ORS decreases this mortality by an additional 84%3. For this reason, the World Health Organization recommends treatment with zinc and LO-ORS for the clinical management of acute diarrhea. Our objectives to improve the provision of appropriate information to caregivers and influencers, develop the capacity of and improve the supportive supervision for health workers, and the states to increase and sustain availability and access to zinc and LO- ORS commodities demonstrates our commitment to improving the survival rates and health outcomes of infants whose future should be protected. 

 

Building A Pipeline Of Skilled Health Workers

The WBFA is proud to have successfully concluded our ambitious 5-year collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Global Health and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s Centre For Maternal and Newborn Health, to improve the quality and availability of maternity, newborn and obstetric care in Kwara State, North Central Nigeria, by delivering a comprehensive skills-based and certificated training package for 62,800 multitiered professional health workers in Emergency Obstetric & Newborn Care (EmONC). The project was centred on improving maternal and neonatal health by building capacities of in-facility health care workers in basic and comprehensive emergency obstetrics and newborn care (BEmONC and CEmONC) respectively. The impact is clear, a 15% reduction in maternal mortality, and a 20% decrease in stillbirth rates by 20% - giving Kwara State the enviable ranking of the highest and best maternal, newborn and child survival rates in Nigeria, while partners await the initiation and implementation of the newly-introduced WHO guided perinatal birth and death audits. Upon conclusion the programme saw the growth of invaluable support to health solutions and improved  quality and availability of skilled birth attendants (SBA). Successes included the upgraded capacity in 27 healthcare facilities across 9 Local Government Areas (LGAs)  to provide quality EmONC. A total of 290 healthcare providers were trained in EmONC,  whilst the training  in quality improvement of 88 healthcare providers were conducted across all LGAs in Kwara State. 50 master trainers and skills lab coordinators were also trained and positioned to facilitate training and anatomical skills laboratory sessions on a regular basis. 11 skills labs were established and are being used on a regular basis by healthcare providers in the 16 LGAs.  The upgrading 21 facilities (100%), alongside the certification of two cluster Centres of Excellence for ongoing impact, and their improved availability of Emergency Obstetric Care services to their patients will have a lasting effect in combating maternal mortality in Kwara State - which we hope will extend to influence pre and post service qualification and regulatory curriculae across Nigeria on the whole, while lighting a path of an effective community of clinical practice for other states to replicate.    

Navigating COVID with a gender local-first lens periscope

  Reflecting on the General Assembly’s vital work in the areas of peace and security, disarmament, human rights, gender equality and sustainable development while also overseeing the adoption of major resolutions on key issues - from peacebuilding to counterterrorism and preventing crimes against humanity - addressing climate change and ending human trafficking, the WBFA, which enjoys special consultative status to the Economic and Social Council ECOSOC of the United Nations, and through its leadership of advocating for Nigeria’s ICPD25 commitments, and participation in both the African Womens Leadership Network (AWLN) and the UK-France PSVI Consultations in support of United Nations Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security, can affirm that the General Assembly has proven, time and again, the value of multilateralism and a rules-based international system to drive community-level action, and impact thereof. We live and work in unequal, challenging and ground-breaking times, and must seize strategic opportunities to transform the prevailing challenges to historic innovation - in order that progress will prevail productively for the last mile.  

Reinforcing and replenishing resources for impact

From the earliest moments of the last year of global, national and sub-national activity we knew that COVID-19 would dominate our agenda, yet we also braced ourselves to grapple with the challenge of significantly reduced global aid portfolios, by advocating strongly for increased domestic resource mobilisation as our long-standing collaborations and campaigns with multilateral agencies themselves seek greater investments to continue their essential work to ensure that unmet needs are met. Yet, because we have observed health-focused private sector industries grow huge profits from the pandemic, largely in provision of testing and tracing, some of which are mandatorily inclusive of government levies, we must call for greater accountability, philanthropy and corporate social responsibility support towards civil society organisations, upon whom the task of frontline mitigation has often fallen.   As Covid-19 variants continue to drive surges of outbreaks, democratising access to open-source and universally accessible reliable genomic surveillance capacities will help accelerate timely analysis and inform response measures to keep countries one step ahead of the virus and counter emerging threats in the future, using data insights to help community health workers and health facilities around the world contain any potential pandemic threat within 100 days of an outbreak.   We can’t achieve our goals on our own. We work together with businesses, government, research institutions and nonprofits, and each partner plays a specific role in accelerating progress. Covid-19 caught the world flat-footed. We must act now, before the next disease outbreak hits, to ensure that we have the data and information needed to respond quickly and prevent it from spreading. Inasmuch as we have reiterated our call that the world needs the WHO, this reinforces our belief that the world needs a more effective and more responsive UN, in a shift from focusing on procedures at the cost of substance to a more streamlined and inclusive priority driven agenda which prioritizes the perception of the UN family of agencies, of which the WBFA is honoured to enjoy close collaborations with the WHO, the PMNCH, the UNFPA, UNWomen and UNHCR, as an indivisibly integrated entity of respect, integrity and progress.

Rebuilding better for the most vulnerable: mothers, adolescents and newborns

In the busy months ahead, we will have to factor in a mitigation and growth strategy to drive and bring national and regional resilience to bear upon the difficult circumstances and effect of conflict and climate change; deepening poverty, exclusion and inequality; and a pandemic that continues to threaten lives, livelihoods and futures, particularly close to our programmatic frontline home in the African Union and ECOWAS regions. These challenges are worsened by the divisions scarring our world…between the rich and poor. between those nations who have the luxury of being able to take basic services for granted - and those of our nations for whom these essentials remain a distant dream. Towards ensuring that the benefit of our programs impact and reach even the most fragile and vulnerable citizens of concern, the WBFA has commenced a compassionate new science driven partnership - The Medela Cares and Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) ‘Lactation and Human Milk Initiative’. As an Every Woman Every Child commitment centred partnership, our collaboration is breaking new ground in influencing Neonatal And Intensive Care Unit Clinical and Healthcare policy in Nigeria on the importance of own mothers milk (OMM) to improve infant feeding and ultimately health outcomes. The initial 12 month quality improvement education program which commenced in January 2021 is specifically designed for mothers of, and the premature, fragile and sick infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU), putting the latest in healthcare quality improvement technology into practice. Nigeria consistently ranks as a high-burden country for neonatal mortality, with over 371,000 babies being born prematurely annually, and with complications due to prematurity being the leading cause of death in children under 5. These complications cause >30% of neonatal mortalities (WHO child mortality reports). Additionally, these infants experience more morbidities and long-term complications. All of these negative aspects are significantly reduced with increased dose and exposure to own mother's milk (OMM). The Medela and WBFA project is a thorough and wide reaching initiative currently running in four facilities in three states in Nigeria, Lagos, Abuja and Kwara. Through this NICU quality improvement intervention, Medela Cares and WBFA  will upskill and enhance lactation and human milk knowledge, skills and expertise for NICU, maternity and affiliated health care professionals. The project will drive the much required change from a facility, policy and health systems management level on the importance of lactation and human milk to reduce the indices of neonatal mortality   

Future forward: equality, equity and fairness

  It is no coincidence that the start of this year’s General Assembly was immediately preceded by World Equal Pay Day, as we focus on Building resilience: The Future of Protecting Global Health, and the role of health workers in responding to COVID-19 and delivering essential services, yet in so many countries, the female health workforce cannot celebrate equal pay for work of equal value or build upon the United Nations and ILO commitments to human rights and against all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against women and girls.   Globalization, digital innovation and climate change, among other factors, continue to change the world in which we work — posing both challenges as well as opportunities in realizing women’s economic potential for a better tomorrow. Across all regions, women are paid less than men, with the gender pay gap estimated at 23 per cent globally. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls continues to be held back owing to the persistence of historical and structural unequal power relations between women and men, poverty and inequalities and disadvantages in access to resources and opportunities that limit women’s and girls’ capabilities. Progress on narrowing that gap has been slow. While equal pay for men and women has been widely endorsed, applying it in practice has been difficult. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa had made strategic early investments in a female centred frontline health workforce, with our midwives, nurses, doctors and coaches serving as dedicated community educators and interlocutors, proving time and time again, with unstinting dedication that an educated, empowered, equipped and equally remunerated female health professional can deliver a five-fold demographic dividend, for herself, her family, her patient, her health facility, and her community.   In order to ensure that no one is left behind, throughout UNGA76 and beyond, we must amplify the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that address the need to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, promote decent work and economic growth by seeking full and productive education, employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value, thus mainstreaming the gender perspective as being crucial in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with specific focus on the labour force, unemployment, occupational segregation, the gender wage gap, unpaid work, parental leave, informal work, migrant workers, violence against women, legal barriers, social protections and the digital divide.   Achieving equal pay is an important milestone for human rights and gender equality. It will take the effort of the entire world community and more work remains to be done to promote equal pay for work of equal value and the economic empowerment of women and girls.The journey forward: Impatient Optimism towards sustainable cities and systems for safer births - a more equal and equitable multi-lateral paradigm towards a healthy future for all The pandemic is upending health systems and health workforces around the world—and threatening to reverse decades of progress in global health. That’s why the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, a member of the UN Global Compact, is joining Reckitt, and many other private sector and socially responsible corporate allies and businesses to fight poverty, addressing social determinants towards a better future in actionable hope.  As supporters of WHO standards and targets, the WBFA is committed to the targets of the Frontline Health Workers Coalition in advocating for immediate investments and policy changes to support and protect the frontline health workforce, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.   We must underscore the need to speed-up our response to COVID-19, with vaccines, treatment and equipment for all; to invest in human development, health care, nutrition, water and education; and also commit, and look forward, to both the bold targets for displaced and refugee communities in October, and making progressive contributions to climate targets at the COP26 UN climate conference. My leadership of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s mission is filled with impatient optimism that today’s actions will have an immediate impact. They will also shape our collective tomorrow. Half the world is under 30, another 10 billion will be born this century. They should benefit from the peace and prosperity, the global equity and sustainability that the Sustainable Development Goals could bring.   Throughout the UNGA76 sessions, I have continued to advocate for recognition and respect for local and frontline organisational capacities with regards to global partnerships, in order to ensure equitable funding practices and donor-grantee relationships.   In order to ensure true equity across the sector, donors and grantees need to unite in their shared values and ambitions, to combine the donor’s resources with the grantee’s on-the-ground knowledge of how these can be translated into tangible changes - to ultimately strive for equality, and true accountability as a united front.   Nowhere have inequities been thrown into higher relief as in the war to contain, control and combat the coronavirus pandemic; Safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines were developed in record time. But the virus is moving faster than the global distribution of vaccines. The vast majority have been administered in high- and upper-middle-income countries, mostly in 10 countries alone. If these doses had been distributed equitably, they would have been enough to cover all health workers and older people globally.   The global failure to share vaccines equitably is taking its toll on some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. New variants of concern mean that the risks of infection have increased in all countries for people who are not yet protected by vaccination. There are enough doses of vaccines globally to drive down transmission and save many lives, if they go to the people who need them most around the world. Worldwide access to COVID-19 vaccines offers the best hope for slowing the coronavirus pandemic, saving lives, and securing a global economic recovery.   To stop the pandemic, and to achieve vaccine equity, we need to vaccinate at least 70% of people in every country, and work towards integrating COVID vaccination campaigns within routine immunisation strategies.   Believing that it is only by constant replenishment and reinforcement that we can harness the crucial resilience to respond to critical points of crisis, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s  mission to strengthen the primary health care tier with a visionary new paradigm of universally accessible and affordable comprehensive community care, will see our Wellbeing Apex partnership birth a network of quality universal health coverage targeted facilities, driven by prompt diagnostics and efficient supply chain management, at scale, deliver family health services across communities - powered by concrete investments in generating more professional health workers to address the health worker - patient ratio. Our informed, intentional and deliberate optimism isn’t a belief that things will automatically get better; it’s a conviction that we can make things better. Creating that better future for all, by improving access and availability to health services, and empowering effective agency and autonomy from conception and birth, to advanced age, is in our hands.  

Building Resilience Through Actionable Hope – To Recover from COVID-19, Rebuild Sustainable Systems, Respond to the Needs of the Planet, Respect the Rights of People, Replenish And Redeem The Promise Of Multilateralism At The Frontline, And At Scale

  The war against inequities, poverty and injustice on our planet must succeed - These challenges and divisions are not an invisible intangible force of nature. They are (hu)man-made and require human solutions of redemption.   In the midst of hunger and crisis, the 2021 United Nations Food System Summit has convened global constituencies, world leaders and heads of state to engage deeply in the process of developing an initial set of country and multi-stakeholder commitments to action. These commitments are emerging to take forward the agenda to accelerate action to transform food systems to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We are less than a decade away from our shared target to bring greater safety, equity, and sustainability to our food systems that affect every area of our communal lives - our culture, our economy, and our health. We have a map to a resilient and sustainable and a healthy future for all but it is by harvesting our ambition, growing our seeds of change, and transforming the fruits of our dedicated labor - as change-makers, policy-makers and decision-makers - that we can ensure the future that we want. The same can be said for one of the darkest fights in the history of the human race: the war to eradicate racism and discrimination which continues to permeate institutions, social structures and everyday life in every society. 20th years after the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA), Heads of States and Governments have gathered in the General Assembly hall as part of UNGA76, to discuss reparations, racial justice and equality for people of African descent. Structural racism and systematic injustice still deny people their fundamental human rights, and linkages between racism and gender inequality are unmistakable. As we re-commit to redeeming and replenishing the promise of multilateralism, matching the UN values of human rights at our last-mile frontlines, supporting the most vulnerable, peace through dialogue, action and solidarity with shared values. Over the next year, every day, we will keep this better world in view, living, working and breathing our central values during UNGA76, and across our world.

Download Her Excellency Toyin Saraki Global Office and Philanthropy and The Wellbeing Foundation UNGA76 Advocacy And Activity Statement here: Keeping A Better World In View

[embed]https://youtu.be/fN7y4KEglIg[/embed] Earlier this week I spent precious time #withRefugees at the UNHCR Nigeria supported UNHCR Refugees settlement communities in Ogoja, Cross Rivers State.  My first stop was Adagom where I was cheerfully welcomed by over 67,000 mothers, men and children once forced to flee, now residing in the Refugee Resettlement Community. Followed by an insightful discussion with the Women Leaders of both the refugee and wonderfully kind Adagom host communities. Adagom is a community full of vibrance and resilience but like so many other displaced communities, burdened with a lack of resources and basic provisions in health, education, and access to gainful livelihoods.  [gallery link="none" size="large" ids="1570,1571,1569"] I am pleased that my Wellbeing Foundation Africa team, National Program Coordinator and Lead WBFA Community Midwife were on hand to deliver food boxes, dignity kits, education learning materials, and undertake our WBFA baseline needs assessment. We demonstrated our flagship MamaCare class, whilst imparting successful breastfeeding practices with the assistance of WBFA manuals and IEC material.  There are more displaced peoples in Nigeria—over two million—than the populations of Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles and Cape Verde, combined. COVID-19 has affected such communities disproportionately, most especially the women and girls therein in need of maternal health support and timely antenatal care. We have to act fast to get these settlement communities back on track and ensure no woman, no expectant mother, no girl child is left behind.  [gallery size="large" ids="1572,1573,1574"] These numbers within the global 82 million refugees globally often fail to tell the full story of the tragic situation that has befallen so many residing in Nigeria's North East, and Cross River, Benue, Taraba, and Akwa Ibom States. The scale of this situation in Nigeria will be a tragedy for our people and our economy if we fail to plan, provide and act, for on their behalf. They are our own brothers and sisters for whom we have shared responsibility to support and include in our existing programmes. That's why I joined hands with UNHCR, UNHCR Nigeria, and UNHCR Private Sector Partnerships who support such vulnerable communities across the continent and the world by protecting and empowering displace men, women, and youth and to promote social inclusion and foster good relationships with their local communities.  The time is now to convene and inspire others towards action. I echo the words of the UN High Commissioner For Refugees that “solutions require global leaders and those with influence to put aside their differences, end an egoistic approach to politics, and instead focus on preventing and solving conflict and ensuring respect for human rights".The biggest achievement derived from the 1951 Geneva Convention itself, is that many of the challenges faced by IDP and Refugees are now categorised as international problems. In the same vein, individuals must remain exactly that - individuals; affording them a truly localised and personal approach to reintegration and community-level support. In doing so, we manage traumas correctly, minimise further displacement and ensure that all policies and societal practices reflect each citizen - by birth, heritage or displacement - right up until the last mile. I am encouraged by the learnings that private sector philanthropies and civil society can contribute in this journey, through collaborative efforts, to rethink and re-imagine the possibilities of donorship and of timely life-saving interventions for the millions of refugees and we must remember: no one is truly safe until everyone is safe.  I am pleased to join UNHCR, partnering to ensure all refugees and displaced people have access to their basic human rights and dignities.

This is a moment for heightened urgency in addressing the investments and attention being paid to our public health systems in Nigeria, as globally. Deep inequities and unbalanced approaches to channelling much needed remuneration, respect and investments to prioritise our frontline force have been exaggerated since the onset of the Pandemic. The unnerving, recent announcement by Nigeria’s National Association of Resident Doctors public strike is the fourth work stoppage by medical residents since the pandemic began. As the backbone of our public health - health and care workers and CHWs have provided essential health services to communities with the least access to quality care, especially in remote and rural areas- accelerating the attainment of universal health coverage - despite inadequate attention being applied to facilitating decent work, safety, dignity, fair pay and equal leadership they deserve - as the key mutual and multi-directional duty of care. I remain deeply concerned especially that the state of primary healthcare centres across Nigeria, and how the frontline potential for PHC's being the first port of call for serious injury and disease, a barrier between life and death for many - is being underutilized. For years, Nigeria, like many other lower-middle income countries, has struggled to address health worker shortage lagging far behind the WHO suggested doctor-patient ratio of 1:600. With the 19,000 protesting medical residents making up the bulk of health care workers at government hospitals throughout Nigeria, also staffing the majority of the government-run treatment facilities for COVID-19 - their absence at this crucial time is an alarming concern. This is a period that calls for whole system support as a duty of care - and a greater push for resources, resilience, replenishment towards recommended ratios which of course integrates regular remunerations. Taking learnings from paradigm shifts recorded in countries such as India, whose medical education system has been able to pull through a major turnaround, successfully doubling the numbers of MBBS graduate (modern medicine training) positions during recent decades - it is not enough to fixate on the excuse of doctor scarcity. As we move forward there is an urgent need to focus on augmenting the fiscal capacity as well as developing much needed infrastructure both in public and private health sectors toward addressing pressing healthcare needs of our growing population.

COVID-19 has enabled global citizens to hold a greater understanding of the integral role WASH plays in public health, and our lives at large. It has caused policymakers, advocates and donor to review a culture that previously undermined the relationship we all had with WASH and disease prevalence. The current data sadly shows that Nigeria carries over 20% of our African continent’s NTD burden.

• • Over 134 million Nigerians need treatment for at least one of the five most common NTDs
  • Over 25 million Nigerians need treatment for schistosomiasis
  • Over 45 million Nigerians need treatment for soil-transmitted helminths

Unacceptable WASH and open defecation conditions not only fan the flames of COVID-19 to the point where people cannot adequately wash their hands, but also contribute to many lesser known but pervasive diseases that cause long-term effects on health, like NTDs. Today, as I welcomed a renewed focus directed at  'Breaking the Cycle of Neglect’ with The End Fund and The Economist Intelligence Unit, myself and other leaders advocated to explore the far-reaching impact of a worm-free world. The focus is very often solely on preventing mortality - and rightly so. But as we work towards changing the cultural and societal behaviours and commitments - or the lack of - towards WASH and the prevalence of NTDs, we need to take a closer look at the effects that NTD has on morbidity, too. Building a better community of practice for a worm free world through infection and infestation prevention and control is essential to maintaining good health and wellbeing for all. Diseases such as Schistosomiasis, STH and Parasitic Worms, can and must be recognised early and treated effectively - without cost, access or literary competency posing as a barrier. to patients. Dr. Alicia White's contributions and the research produced by EIU spotlights the macro-economic impact of ending sickness from parasitic worms in four sub-Saharan countries - notably illustrating that treatment and prevention of parasitic worm infections is transformative - not only for individuals and communities, but can lead to significant economic productivity gains for entire nations. [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://toyinsaraki.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/WhatsApp-Video-2021-07-01-at-18.02.35.mp4" poster="https://toyinsaraki.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Image-01-07-2021-at-18.20.jpg" loop="true" autoplay="true"][/video]   In my keynote address, I emphasised that diseases such as Schistosomiasis, STH and Parasitic Worms, can and must be recognised early and treated effectively - without cost, access or literary competency posing as a barrier to patients. As we hone in on the WHO targets for parasitic worms in particular, we must all welcome the renewed evidence for action delivered within the EIU report as a timely reminder that we must remain focused on the core constructs that embody and will soon enable the actualisation of the word ‘end,’ by way of control, elimination of transmission, elimination as a public health problem, and thus, total, long-term eradication. I believe and continue to demonstrate through my Wellbeing Foundation Africa's WASH program and outreach, that the solution for combating NTDs starts and ends with WASH – a message that the onset of the global pandemic successfully communicated to members of the NTD community, our global infrastructures, households and public service facilitators. As we hone in on the WHO targets for parasitic worms in particular, we must all welcome the renewed evidence for action delivered within the EIE report as a timely reminder that we must remain focused on the core constructs that embody and will soon enable the actualisation of the word ‘end,’ by way of control, elimination of transmission, elimination as a public health problem, and thus, total, long-term eradication. I believe and continue to demonstrate through my Wellbeing Foundation Africa's WASH program and outreach, that the solution for combating NTDs starts and ends with WASH – a message that the onset of the global pandemic successfully communicated to members of the NTD community, our global infrastructures, households and public service facilitators. The pandemic has caused policymakers, global health advocates and donors to step away from a culture that previously undermined the relationship between WASH and disease prevalence. A central goal of The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, is to improve health outcomes for women, children, and infants. We are committed to improving and increasing access to WASH in healthcare facilities, schools and communities across Nigeria, in a bid to reduce and eventually eradicate the prevalence of NTDs.  The WBFA has come a long way from establishing a private sector partnership in 2005 to promote peer-educator mass-action deworming clubs in schools, so we know that local NTD efforts have been around for many years, using a decentralized approach to treat communities. The Nigerian government launched a national plan in 2012 and devoted more domestic financing to simple deworming campaigns which the Wellbeing Foundation Africa believes should receive continuous replenishment and reinforcement to achieve universal community coverage. We must incorporate WASH into a holistic strategy, if we want to finally end neglected tropical diseases, and integrate our solutions for combating and ending NTDs, to start with improved water, sanitation and hygiene - WASH.Soil-transmitted helminths, schistosomiasis and other parasitic worm infections must be recognised early & treated effectively while improving access to detection strategies in houesholds, healthcare facilities,schools. Today, the clean hands of WBFA Mamacare360’s team of community centred midwives, in partnership with Unilever Lifebuoy Nigeria and Sight-savers, have the ambitious target of reaching more than two million children at-risk of NTDs, all while improving personal social and health education and hygiene practices for teachers, pupils and their families.  These school-based demand creation efforts reinforce, in children, their families, households and communities the importance of prioritising WASH interventions, including hand-washing with soap, to deliver a key, and continued driver of behavioral change. As we build back better, and continue to devise strategic contributions to a global Covid-19 response, the focus must continue to shift from solely categorising treatment as the primary solution, and begin to recognise, that with the magnitude of suffering caused by NTDs, the most effective and far reaching approach will be to simultaneously actualise prevention and the education we all need going forward. To #EndTheNeglect once and for all, we must continue to centre our understanding of the integral role WASH plays in public health, and our lives at large.

Bearing the regal approval and presence of His Royal Majesty, Oba (Dr.) Abdulfatah Aremu Oyeyinka Aromire, Oyegbemi II, The Ojora of Ijora Kingdom and Iganmu Lands, I appreciate the honour bestowed upon me by His Royal Majesty, Oba Abdulwasiu Omogbolahan Lawal, Abisogun II, The Oniru of Iru Land, who conferred my humble self with the recognition of being appointed and installed as the Erelu Bobajiro of Iru Land on 10th June, 2021, during the week long 1st Year Coronation Anniversary Celebration of His Royal Majesty Abisogun II, Oniru of Iru Land. I congratulate Kabiyesi Oba Omogbolahan Lawal on the first anniversary of his coronation, and all chieftaincy honorees dedicated to the visionary mission to bring meaningful progress and development to Iru Land, supported by the Iru Land Oba-In-Council Cabinet of Chiefs. I am grateful for the inestimable love and support of my Royal Father, The Ojora of Ijora Kingdom and Iganmu Lands, Kabiyesi, His Royal Majesty, Oba (Dr) Abdulfatah Aremu Oyeyinka Aromire, Oyegbemi II, His Council of Chiefs, and the good people of the Ijora Kingdom and Iganmu Lands for honoring my homecoming to Ijora Oloye with the highest privilege of Apesin Ceremonial Procession. I equally congratulate His Royal Majesty, Oba (Dr) Abdulfatah Aromire, Oyegbemi II, Apasa Kekeniju, on the 27th Anniversary of his purposeful and successful continued reign as The Ojora of Ijora Kingdom and Iganmu Lands. I am appreciative of the amity, kinship and prayers bestowed towards me by Royal Stools and Royal Families across the length and breadth of Nigeria and beyond, most notably and especially, the gracious presence of Their Royal Majesties, The Amanyanabo Ebitimi Banigo, King of Okpoama Kingdom, Brass, Bayelsa State, his lovely Queen Pelebo Banigo, and their Royal Cabinet. I also appreciate the presence of The Erelu Kuti IV, HRH Princess Abiola Dosunmu, and the attendance of the Ilorin Emirate Princes, personally and as the delegated envoys of His Royal Majesty, The Emir of Ilorin, Mai Martaba, Dr. Ibrahim Sulu Gambari CFR. I recognize and appreciate the presence and attendance of Their Excellencies, Former Governors, Senator Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State, Alhaji Shaba Lafiaji of Kwara State, Chief Olusegun Osoba and Beere 'Derin Osoba of Ogun State, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe State, current and former Distinguished Senators, Honorable Members of the House of Representatives and State House of  Assembly, current and former Honorable Ministers, current and former States Commissioners and Local Government Functionaries, national and states political parties functionaries and members, and the supportive presence of women and youth leaders, groups, cooperatives and associations. I am forever thankful for the unflinching and loving support and encouragement of my dear husband, His Excellency, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, MBBS, CON, The Waziri Ngeri of Ilorin Emirate,13th President of the Senate and Chair, 8th Session of the National Assembly 2015~2019, together with the blessings of my lovingly respected parents, Their Royal Highnesses, The Otunba Adekunle Ojora OFR, CON, and The Erelu Odu’a Ojuolape Ojora, MON. I appreciate too, the personal visit, recognition and kinship of His Imperial Majesty, Alaiyeluwa, Arole Oodua, Olofin Adimula,The Ooni of Ife, Dr. Adeyeye Enitan Babatunde Ogunwusi, Ojaja II. With utmost respect and gratitude, I appreciate the attendance of my personal friends, international development and private sector partners, my immediate and extended family, and the good citizens of both Lagos and Kwara States. who honoured me with the joy and privilege of their distinguished presence at the Traditional Iwuye Ceremony at The Oniru’s Palace, Iru Land, and the Ijora Oloye Homecoming Apesin Procession at The Ojora of Ijora Palace, Ijora Kingdom. I pray for the light of knowledge, wisdom and peace for all, and journey mercies to our respective homes. Amen.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK6FtsOnKJw[/embed] I am delighted to join our partners, the Liverpool of Tropical Medicine, Johnson and Johnson Global Health, the Kwara State Government and all stakeholders today as we disseminate the results and impact of our 5-year program to improve the availability and quality of maternal newborn care services delivered by health workers in Kwara State. From the first moment I witnessed the impact of hands-on anatomically delivered simulation model training globally, I knew that building a community of well-practiced multi-disciplinary delivery teams could address the local frontline barriers to improving care services rapidly and whole-heartedly, at both the health system and societal level, in Nigeria. Thus, in 2015, my WBFA leapt at the golden opportunity to partner together with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, CMNH-LSTM Nigeria and Johnson and Johnson Global Health to up-skill health care practitioners in the area of certificated Emergency Obstetric Care Skills and Drills. The main drive of the project pioneered across Kwara State, Nigeria, was to equip doctors, nurses and midwives so as to recalibrate a collective team and introduce the skills needed to overcome these obstetric emergencies. With hopes to improve maternal health significantly, we have continued to identify and lift away the barriers that limit access, availability and quality of maternal and newborn health services.  80% of all maternal deaths are as a result of five complications; all of which can- be managed by adequately trained healthcare professionals.  Haemorrhages, sepsis, eclampsia, complications of abortion and obstructed labour are among the common attributional factors of maternal and neonatal complications, but they also contribute to mortality and morbidity, too.  The introduction of specialist professional and regular training acts presents as a form of diligence while reinvigorating frontline workforce autonomy.  As we focused our intervention on local government areas within the state with the largest population of women of reproductive age, we landed in Kwara located in north-central Nigeria, It’s 3 million inhabitants and an estimated 120,000 births per year, coupled with my own personal state-centred nostalgia and birth experience, made it the perfect beginning for such a dissemination of key skills and learning. Through a partnership with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and with support from Johnson and Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust, Wellbeing Foundation Africa implemented a project to increase the availability and quality of care for mothers and babies at public and private healthcare facilities in Kwara State, Nigeria. Having sustained the early and encouraging impact being made by the introduction of EmONC skills and drills training, and expanding the program in 2018, we continued by paying joint advocacy visits to the Kwara State House of Assembly to advocate at the sub-national level for the training espoused by our EmONC program which was pioneering sustainable change across 21 public HCFs in the state. I hope that our strong evidence now demonstrates that anatomical models based skills and drills training must be recognised as a professional education curriculum requirement, and fast. As we conclude the 5th year of this pioneering introduction in Kwara State, we now have convincing proof of a concept beyond suitable for whole nation deployment. The results are clear, we’ve recorded a 38% reduction in facility stillbirth rate since 2015, and we know that the improvements and upskilling in Kwara can, must and will inspire change across the country. I thank our partners, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s Centre For Maternal and Newborn Health, and Johnson and Johnson Global Health, for the trust and confidence invested in the Wellbeing Foundation Africa and United Nations Every Woman Every Child Commitments to the Global Strategy on Women and Childrens’ Health, which powered our partnership, and their arrival to Nigeria to implement such a significant program. I beam with pride and with a grateful heart at the readiness demonstrated by a robust frontline, and look forward to the actualisation of a continuum of care that will contribute to the total zeroing of maternal and neonatal deaths in Nigeria.  It is often said that the true test of innovation and impact is sustainable local engagement, so I am delighted that the partnership was able to establish skills laboratories and centres of excellence at selected facilities. I congratulate our partners and the National Council of Nursing and Midwifery as the program impact progresses, again supported by Johnson and Johnson Global Health, on the strategic and intentional path towards national pre-service training scale. Towards holistically aligning and guaranteeing mothers access to higher quality respectful maternity care, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa continues to strengthen, deepen and widen its independent community midwifery-led Mamacare Antenatal and Postnatal Education Program, educating expectant and nursing mothers, ensuring they access and achieve the WHO recommended 8-visits throughout their childbirth journey - with the confidence of knowing that their professionally qualified delivery attendants are upskilled to deliver a safe, healthy and therefore happy outcome. We must continue on the quest to lift and leap over barriers, to deliver new life safely, and ultimately save millions more lives. Thank you all. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhMUE5VZMZc[/embed]

2021 International Day of The Midwife: Follow the Data

The year 2020 was indeed a year of many unprecedented firsts, including the very first International Year Of The Nurse and Midwife, bringing long aspired recognition to the caring professions of nursing and midwifery, and the support systems that uphold their professional frameworks, which I was delighted to celebrate as the Inaugural Global Goodwill Ambassador for the International Confederation of Midwives, and as a longstanding supporter of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives.. Reflecting on the many challenges that arose last year, and remembering with fondness, the lives affected and tragically lost, today we recognise, celebrate and signpost the formidable work my Wellbeing Foundation Africa Midwives and Midwives worldwide, have committed to - particularly as the ‘new normal’ continues to evolve. We have powered through with determination in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, and arrived at a full circle moment far different to past observations of days of commemoration, particularly in marking the simultaneous intersection of the International Day of The Midwife with World Hygiene Day For Healthworkers, in the fully reinforced knowledge that every midwife and health worker, everywhere, requires effective hand hygiene at the point of care, now more than ever. According to the WHO, the total health workforce in Africa currently stands at 1,640.000 people, of which, health service providers (doctors, nurses, midwives, laboratory technicians and community healthcare workers make up 1,360,000, of the workforce.)  While my global advocacy has amplified the importance of access to clean water sanitation and hygiene in health care facilities as being of equal importance to Personal Health Records and Vaccine Scheduling as just one of many examples of contributions to national data collection, the road to innovation which has been extensively re-mapped under the pressure of last year has proven that the resilience from adapted solutions and ways of working, recording and capturing data must continue to emerge.  Healthcare systems across the world have scrambled to draw workers from many units in order to assist with the pandemic and losing so many in the process, the importance of the professional and specialist midwife has been highlighted as essential to maintaining the gains made in other areas of healthcare service delivery outside of the pandemic. 2020 saw every citizen develop and demonstrate a sense of global sensitivity as we journeyed through a myriad of feelings. On the side of promise and positivity, a number of people took the time to delve deeper; in their homes, work teams and personal spaces, and in doing so, not only proved a sense of tenacity, committed to being recorded as a surviving number. We have recorded fluctuating virus contraction rates across nations, and amidst the pain and unpredictably unprecedented chaos and strain that Community Health Workers, Health and Care Facility staff and Healthcare Infrastructures have been under worldwide, our ability to recognise areas of neglect, advocate for increased remuneration and push for more essential PPE was largely due to commitments to collaboration - a collaboration which provided every nation with the numbers needed to move the world further forward, while identifying all those who truly helped to keep the world going round. Each strong national, regional, and global platform and partnership the Wellbeing Foundation Africa implements and amplifies has been maintained with UN EWEC, WHO, Global Water 2020, UNFPA, LSTM, JNJ, Laerdal Global Health, Global Affairs Canada, Nutrition International and Alive and Thrive to name a few, continuing to provide solutions by way of revised advocacy, policy and actions on key issues surrounding RMNCAH, Nutrition, Water and Sanitation Hygiene, Primary and Adolescent Health Education, SRH and gender equality, leading the line to achieve 8 of the 17 SDGs in sub-Saharan Africa - despite a global pandemic. At each juncture, our midwives have committed to the completion of each cause and the delivery of a continuity of care in an attempt to stabilise every cradle, in every community they reach. We have seen continued to witness the unmatched application of skills acquired in seasons past, as our frontline interlocutors lend their voice, hands and hearts to women and families across Nigeria, making it a pertinent point to reach the very last mile and make antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care truly equitable and alive via our bustling WhatsApp communities. We’ve continued to see a near zeroing rate of Obstetric Emergencies in WBFA’s flagship EmONC training state of Kwara, in spite of economic, social and emotional challenges. Across the nation, from Lagos to Oshogbo, Ilorin, Kaduna, Abuja, Lafia and more, our Mamacare Program mothers, newborns and children have been equipped, empowered and invigorated at every juncture. Understanding that providing critical skills and support for women and children are fundamental solutions to improving health outcomes in Nigeria, and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has only heightened this priority.  My WBFA has remained in close convening with key stakeholders in the public, private and third sectors, to promote greater investment and shine a light on the efforts and contributions to ensure comprehensive access to primary healthcare at the community frontline, consolidating home-based health records and supporting maternal and child health handbooks, leading on Nigeria’s Primary Healthcare Revitalisation Support Group (PHCRSG), a coalition of over 70 NGOs and  CSOs, including development partners like multilaterals and bilaterals, and mobilising the global water community to applaud midwives and nurses with WASH. Such convenings and the content and progress thereof, is only possible when there is data-driven evidence available - made available by the physical number of staff on the frontline.  We must continue to have every midwife in mind when discussions surrounding methods and pathways to achieving true resilience, remunerating fairly and up-skilling accordingly are being had. The number of them will determine the number of us in years to come. This year, the ICM’s theme of Follow the Data: Invest in Midwives, depicts duality and a future of well-deserved possibilities for midwives worldwide. As facilitators called to nurture, care, birth and rear, midwives put the ‘front’ in frontline and count kicks and record the progress of every woman and her anticipated neonate(s) while doing so. I lend my voice as a contribution to the heightened respect that data has received in this season, and celebrate every Midwife - trainee and qualified - who has contributed to the numbers in position and in their daily protocol.  Now the journey continues, to support their resilience further by creating appropriate methods for reporting and capturing data, and in the context of heightened risks of racial inequities, I am delighted to welcome partners that have risen to the challenge of resource mobilisation to promote research and development towards racial equality across all areas of reproductive medicine and maternal health. The Ferring Innovation Grants Programme for Racial Equality in Reproductive Medicine and Maternal Health is focused on reducing racial disparities in maternal mortality and improving in vitro fertilisation (IVF), pregnancy and postpartum outcomes for Black communities, Indigenous communities and all communities of colour, to deepen understanding and, ultimately, drive solutions to tackle racial disparities in reproductive medicine and maternal health. In funding multidisciplinary research projects across the four main areas of basic and translational research, clinical research, epidemiology and prevention research, and social science research. Fittingly, the programme also welcomes submissions exploring racial disparities associated with COVID-19 infection, hospitalisation and health outcomes during pregnancy and birth. We work towards a near future that will see data capture affording its collators the remuneration, up-skilling and support they need and deserve, in order to preserve the resilience they have so powerfully developed. So here is to a Happy International Day of the Midwife, and a happy World Hygiene Day. I am proud to be an interlocutor, an advocate, and a tool of amplification for you all, and will continue to work in the direction of a better, respected and celebrated future for you, for mothers and for children.  

I am delighted to welcome and participate in the first day of the Institutionalising Community Health Conference , which focuses on Accelerating PHC at the Community Level. For many years, I successfully led Nigeria’s CSO PHC Revitalization Support Group which advocated successfully for Nigeria's redemption of the Abuja Declaration Pledge of 1% Consolidated Revenue Fund to Health. The 2018 Basic Healthcare Provision Fund BHCPF HUWE, Comprehensive Community Healthcare has remained a core target of my Wellbeing Foundation Africa's mission, vision and actions ever since. By addressing the wider factors that may delay or hinder the holistic delivery of Community Health Management and Quality, enables us to place a strategic lens on how optimal health outcomes, and increased equitable access to care can, and should remain a priority.  Globally, when we demonstrate an intentional, collective and results-based commitment to the facilitation of Universal Health Coverage and a quantifiable delivery of a Continuity of Care, we are able to actualise equal access to health care, move into promoting a truly universal and affordable healthcare system, and most importantly, place quality at the heart of community care - for any and all.  It is important to galvanise funding and action in order to strengthen primary care access and in order to keep essential public health services functioning.  How do we succeed in doing so? By ensuring that the primary conversations held ahead of any disbursement, allocation, policy creation or protocol implementation is being had with the most remote and vulnerable people in mind - and within view. This is how we collectively maintain our social and civic responsibility, as well as keeping the integrated health services of every community alive.  Multi-sectoral policy and action must reflect and empower the very people and communities it is formed to serve, and the health and wellbeing of said individuals is the effective and most precedential place to begin - and continue. For me, strengthening localised approaches to UHC, means we can successfully begin the transition into delivering community health coverage (CHC) - a journey where  the task and charge is to minimise discrimination, strengthen and revive strained approaches to cultural sensitivity, and straighten the pathway to putting the ‘U’ in universalism.  We must increase targeted and inclusive investments and make the road to care more generally accessible - starting with Maternal and neonatal health. When we recognise the importance of EmONC training, facilitation and care - including displaced persons and refugees - we make the case for equitable access even stronger. Factors such as malnutrition, language barriers, no fixed address and underlying health / obstetric conditions place these women and neonates within a higher risk category and makes them more prone to complications; preconception, antenatally, intrapartum and postnatally. What then is the purpose of Institutionalizing Community Health? A revival; a call to action that requires true, palpable and equitable action to take place.  

It is time to build a fairer, healthier world. It is time to build back better If the global COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is that our basic human rights and access to decent health and care is far from being a lived reality for millions of people around the world. Timely, optimal and affordable healthcare which is facilitated to an appropriate quality and standard, is often a dream for the 1.8 billion men, women and children who face appalling conditions inside hospitals and local health clinics. The problems they often face? A lack of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) among others. Today, 50% of healthcare facilities in Least Developed Countries lack even basic water services - a resource and a solution in tandem, that if provided, would both cure and prevent a number of complications, illnesses and deaths. We cannot actualise health equity if we do not consider and prioritise the role and place of adequate WASH across any and all facilities. In 2019, my Wellbeing Foundation Africa committed to training 500 healthcare workers and educating 35,000 pregnant and nursing mothers across Nigeria on hand and personal hygiene practices by 2020. We also committed to advocating for improved WASH structures in healthcare facilities in 2019 and 2020 to enable healthcare workers in Nigeria to perform their duties effectively - a timely initiative which I firmly believe ingrained the practice’s importance in the hearts of Nigeria’s women and families just in time for the pandemic. We are proud to be part of the 100 global commitments to WASH in Healthcare Facilities made over the last 3 years, driving a rally cry to transform this  "neglected crisis" within global health into a global health movement with Global Water 2020 and Global Health Council. In the words of Dr. Maria Neira, Director of Public Health and Environment at the World Health Organization, "a healthcare facility without WASH is not a healthcare facility."  I join UN Secretary General Guterres, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros, UNICEF Executive Director Fore, heads of state and First Ladies, Ministers of Health, Vatican officials, the Dalai Lama and so many more in a global call for funding, technical assistance, research, training, maintenance and advocacy.  WASH is an essential service and progress to get it into healthcare facilities will be among the most critical global health advances we can make in our journey to equal health for all. Crowning the 2021 World Health Care Worker Week by lending my solidarity and by commending, honouring and celebrating our global frontline, who championed the importance of WASH through aseptic techniques when facilitating care, by committing to WASH long before the global pandemic, thoroughly during the height of the waves, and hopefully so, going forward. Thank you. #WorldHealthDay # WASHinHCF #WASHWednesday  

I’m delighted to join WHO in welcoming its 2021-2030 Neglected Tropical Diseases Roadmap, and anticipate the emergence of the renewed Global Strategy for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. Ending the neglect to attain the Sustainable Development Goals: a road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021−2030 was prepared through an extensive global consultation pursuant to decision EB146(9) of the Executive Board at its 146th session in February 2020 that culminated in the endorsement of the document by the Seventy-third World Health Assembly in November 2020. The road map sets global targets and milestones to prevent, control, eliminate or eradicate 20 diseases and disease groups as well as cross-cutting targets aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. Three foundational pillars will support global efforts to achieve the targets: accelerate programmatic action (pillar 1), intensify cross-cutting approaches (pillar 2) and change operating models and culture to facilitate country ownership (pillar 3). The disease summaries annexed to the road map detail the current epidemiological status and burden of disease, core strategic interventions and progress towards the 2020 targets of the previous road map. The targets, sub-targets and milestones for 2030, and the critical actions required to achieve them, were used to generate the evidence in the road map document endorsed by the World Health Assembly. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa serves as an example of the powerful role that community facilitation of WASH plays in successfully inhibiting all 20 NTDs; from outright prevention and effective treatment, to reducing the prevalence of many more by between 33 to 70 percent (including intestinal worms which half a billion school children are at risk of.) Ensuring that access to WASH is made truly equitable remains an ongoing priority - the global strides taken to end all of the 20 NTDs mentioned within the roadmap will accelerate this much needed equity. As we continue to underpin WASH in every Covid-19 response worldwide, we further strengthen and reiterate its importance, and in so doing, place greater value on water as a resource greatly required by every girl, boy, woman, man and child.  We must embrace a multilateral approach across a plethora of sectors, and join WHO in reiterating the importance of increased and targeted investments and global awareness raising strategies that highlight the reach and impact of collective action now.   

Every day, nearly 4000 people lose their lives around the world to Tuberculosis. That’s over 160 people an hour and at least 2 people every minute.  The clock is ticking and the priority remains to accelerate preventative action globally, to address health risks and social determinants of the disease nationally, and to further promote access to #UHC at the subnational and local levels to end TB.  According to the World Health Organisation's 2020 Global TB Report, in 2019, 440,000 people fell ill with TB in Nigeria and 155,000 avoidable death certificates were attributed to this deadly disease. As at 2019, TB treatment coverage stood at 27% - a far cry from the 2025 target of 90% operational target to end TB; although promising, the treatment success rate was 87%. People can and do recover - but, we must do more and do better to detect, prevent, treat and support our communities. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa team works daily to improve RMNCAH+N - alongside prevention, detection, treatment, and support which provides the pathway to achieving the vision of ending Tuberculosis by the year 2030. Last year, through collaborating with Nigeria's National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Program (NTBLCP), we visited health facilities and communities in the FCT and Nassarawa state, to health and care workers at the front of the frontline fight against the disease. During a lecture regarding the spread of TB in Nigeria led by our WBFA Abuja Mission Lead Dr Otun Adewale, Dr. Ogedengbe Babatunde, Provost Divine Jubilation College of Health Technology for Masaka, Nasarawa State shared, “it is sad to learn that Nigeria is being hit the worst in Africa and 5th in the world when it comes to TB. It’s even harder to hear that the largest impact is attributed to children, women of reproductive age and people living with HIV.”  [caption id="attachment_1516" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Dr. Ogedengbe Babatunde, Nassarawa State[/caption]   His conclusions further emphasise the need for targeted educational efforts, and empowerment of people - before they become patients. I commend every effort made by my own foundation’s frontline staff, and our global health heroes, and will continue to call for whole-system support for professionals and patients alike. We must continue to focus our progress in the direction of uplifting frontline morale, devising authentic and targeted approaches taken to maintaining their own health and wellbeing at the most localised level. We can do this by ensuring that equipment and PPE are made available and investments and donations are made in the direction of training and continued up-skilling.  A further and key component in addition to increased donorship is that the actualisation of Universal Health coverage and health security are closely interlinked.  Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO, refers to Universal Health Coverage as a “political choice, and that it is the responsibility of every country and national government to pursue it.” In Nigeria and in many other countries, he is also right to point out that health security and universal health coverage are closely interlinked. Public campaigns and mobilisation must seek to educate all individuals and raise awareness, so that early detection and prevention are possible. While resources may be scarce, innovative and strategic management is key to overcome structural hurdles. These are the practical steps we can take as the clock turns. Together, and even in the mammoth shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, we can achieve zero TB-related deaths and save lives, before the clock runs out.  Wishing you a targeted and more progressive #WorldTBDay.

I am both horrified and saddened by the atrocities and breaches of human rights reported as presently occurring in the Ethiopian province of Tigray. Following many years of the country’s collaborative attempts to recalibrate societal attitudes and behaviours, by promoting unity and tolerance for all persons, we are today, met with the devastating news and evidence of inexplicable acts of harm and violence towards women and girls. War is the destructive debasing of a united people - but to then fall victim to rape is a devastating low of sexual violence in conflict, in a war which unfairly divides and deprives humanity of dignity and autonomy. Cowardly and inhumane crimes such as these must be dealt with and stamped out, fast - and appropriately. I am urging for government and policymakers, people of power and community members to speak up for the application of United Nations Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, and the prevention of sexual violence in conflict. Perpetrators should be identified and reprimanded swiftly and appropriately.  

Seed Global Health IWD 2021 Keynote Speech: Women's equity within the health and care workforce - honing in particularly on the importance of up-skilling, equal remuneration and putting the 'front' in frontline.

  [embed]https://youtu.be/Uy7G4qCVNjo[/embed]   I am delighted to join Vanessa, and 11 amazing change-agents, table-shakers and thought-leaders committed to reigniting the road to equity in global health for all. Your steps; our strides, are a timely jolt as we come together in choosing to challenge and improve the timeless journey for female healthcare workers worldwide. This year’s International Women's Day is a marvellous opportunity at a precarious time yet a hopeful one. During this annual, global moment dedicated to recognising and celebrating the social, cultural, economic and political achievements of women, this year, as we take stock of the events which preceded this very day, we are reminded of the unique challenges faced by women and girls around the world - and their continued commitment to undoing and overcoming them all. Last week, I joined the WHO PMNCH Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health and United Nations Women's Fund in welcoming, and rendering commitments to the Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce Initiative of the Government of France, WHO, and Women In Global Health - to increase visibility, advocacy, dialogue, technical output, and commitment to action on improving gender equity in the health and care workforce alongside the UN Women Generation Equality Campaign to accelerate gender equality actions. To date, policies have attempted to fit women into inequitable systems that do not seek to serve their commitments, capacity or level of innate caring abilities. Because of COVID-19, 4x as many women dropped out of the labor force in 2020 as men worldwide. The onus is on each member of society to identify and recalibrate existing systems, policies and work environments, in order to create a culture of work for women that promotes and provides the ability for them to thrive, and closes gender gaps in leadership and pay.  Recognised as the main providers of health, women deliver care to around 5 billion people globally, and creating safe and enabling environments where we can work to our full potential is critical to achieving health for all and improving the well-being of our own personal communities. Today, Women make up 70% of the global healthcare workforce, yet occupy less than 25% of influential leadership positions. We contribute $3 trillion to health care globally, however nearly half of the care we commit to facilitating is unpaid. This must change, and a bottom up approach is a strong, authentic and powerful place to begin this reposition. Thought-leaders and policymakers will continue to gather throughout March to identify, celebrate and increase the visibility of women’s achievements; they help forge equality through strategic collaborations based on shared purpose, trust and the appreciation of impacting positive change for women. We are boldly choosing to challenge gender bias and discrimination in order to accelerate gender parity in the health and care workforce, meticulously marching on towards a decade of delivery for the sustainable development goals, and a gender equal world by 2030.   As a worthy precursor to this very day, and in this Year of the of the Health and Care Worker, I have endorsed the clarion call for a Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce, to further recognise and reinforce the capacities and impact of nurses, midwives and community health and care workers at the forefront of providing essential services around the world. The report of the UN High Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth concluded that investments in education and job creation in the health and social sectors result in a triple return of improved health outcomes, global health security, and inclusive economic growth. When we look at the progress made through upskilling Nigeria’s healthcare professionals in previous years, the importance of accredited and assessed evidence-based practice and care facilitation has been a central and vital component. It has not only strengthened the promise of career progression, but affords and assures the safety and provision of an uncompromised work environment for the health and care giver, and for their family when it comes time for ‘clocking off.’  Taking a deep-dive into case studies such as the successful eradication of the wild polio virus in Nigeria, we have seen that females on the frontline have been instrumental in building trust within communities, and thus, successfully facilitating uptake of vaccinations and immunisations. I urge the wider world to glean from such successes, while acknowledging this and many other components as evidence for the increase. My WBFA’s Mamacare360 Antenatal and Postnatal Education program remains committed to administering care and informing evidence-based counsel to women and families, and more recently, the height of the pandemic served as a ready and powerful example of the purpose equity has in promoting gender leadership - in care, in counsel and in community. Our success in delivering a quality continuum of maternity, newborn and child health care serves as proof and support for increased investments in the direction of upskilling and responsibilities.  With the core goal of empowering health-workers to propel safer births and healthy futures for all, since 2016, my Wellbeing Foundation Africa has partnered the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, supported by Johnson and Johnson Global Health to improve the availability and quality of emergency obstetric and newborn care in Nigeria, deploying pre and post-service anatomically correct simulation models training, and the results are clear: an immediate and sustained 22% drop in mortality and morbidity, improved task shifting between doctors, midwives and nurses, and swift appropriate responses to obstetric and newborn emergencies, cascading into better decision making and leadership and a truly multi-disciplinary approach to care. For our targeted pioneer state, Kwara, in North Central Nigeria, we have achieved the lowest maternal newborn and child mortality, and highest commensurate survival, repeatedly, for the last 4 years, in Nigeria.    This is what the global frontline requires, and desires to have access to. The determined and skilled professional community health-worker even in the most rural parts of sub-saharan Africa for example, dreams of inner-city impact beyond leveraging the locality they begin with. This will only be made possible by way of up-skilling, adequate and equal remuneration, and qualifying him or her as a vibrant and accredited professional healthcare practitioner. Increasing investments from the start of a CHW’s journey, and dream in the direction of impact, is therefore vital. Midwives, nurses and the community health workers who aspire to follow in their footsteps are more commonly women, and have proven to be effective in facilitating better maternal and child health outcomes, essential newborn care, effective SRH education and the promotion of breastfeeding and immunisation, and we must ensure that our healthcare policies reflect that of equal remuneration and equal access to facilities - truly personifying the front in frontline. In the 2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife, I was pleased to crown the conclusion of my second term and 6 years of service as the Inaugural Global Goodwill Ambassador to the International Confederation of Midwives in leading my Wellbeing Foundation Africa to join Member States and Non-State Actors at the 73rd WHO World Health Assembly, in unison, speaking to the critical role of health and care workers in ensuring our health and prosperity. We emphasized the urgency and made it imperative to address persistent health worker challenges.  Ahead of this year’s 74th World Health Assembly, recognising the need to advocate for a gender equal health and care workforce, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa which had launched its own Women Girls and Gender Development Targets in November 2020 wholeheartedly endorses and supports actions in the health and care sectors in the 4 identified areas:

• Increasing the number of women health workers in leadership roles
• Recognising the value of unpaid health care work and the importance of equal pay in the health and social sectors
• Protecting women health workers from harassment and violence in the workplace
• Ensuring safe and decent working conditions for all health workers

From the community healthcare worker aspiring to facilitate life’s first cry, to the autonomous and multi-skilled practitioner working to ensure the promise of optimal care, the priority must remain; to provide the appropriate health facilities whole-system support infrastructure to welcome, protect and preserve life from cradle to age. In choosing to challenge and strengthen the primary health frontline where lives are won, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa has developed, and invested in improving primary health centres, evolving a uniquely unprecedented comprehensive community care model to maternity referral standard, as our Wellsprings Universal Health Coverage Centres to be expanded across Nigeria, throughout this Decade of Action. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa is committed to tackling health, gender and global development together, as we prioritise equity, facilitate decent work conditions and increase investments in the direction of upskilling in a bid to position the doctor, the midwife, the nurse, and all female healthcare workers, towards a gender equal health workforce, truly leading at the front of the frontline. Making our commitments to the ethical principles and practices of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel (Code), we continue to urge prioritization of support and safeguards for the countries with the greatest vulnerability, including greater investment, and endorsed the call to action for WHO and development partners to strengthen its financing, implementation and monitoring and moving purposefully beyond applauding the contributions of the frontline health workforce, to deliberate and intentional investments in health, health systems and in health and care workers. We must now, at our global, national and subnational frontlines, ensure that this key consensus necessarily unites, includes and integrates a gender equal approach to capitalise female leadership in the global health workforce. -End of keynote-

A worthy precursor to International Women's Day 2021 in the Year of the Health and Care Worker: Amplifying the clarion call for a Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce.

  On Thursday, 25 February, I joined the WHO PMNCH Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health and United Nations Women's Fund in welcoming, and rendering commitments to the Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce Initiative of the Government of France, WHO, and Women In Global Health - to increase visibility, advocacy, dialogue, technical output, and commitment to action on improving gender equity in the health and care workforce alongside the UN Women Generation Equality Campaign to accelerate gender equality actions. As a worthy precursor to International Women's Day 2021, in this Year of the of the Health and Care Worker, I have endorsed the clarion call for a Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce, to further recognise and reinforce the capacities and impact of nurses, midwives and community health and care workers at the frontline of providing essential services around the world. As leaders and policymakers gather throughout our Women’s Month of March to identify, celebrate and increase the visibility of women’s achievements, they help forge equality through strategic collaborations based on shared purpose, trust and the appreciation of impacting positive change for women. We are boldly choosing to challenge gender bias and discrimination in order to accelerate gender parity in the health and care workforce throughout the Year of the Health and Care Worker, marching on towards a decade of delivery for the sustainable development goals, and a gender equal world by 2030.   Long before the first COVID-19 case was reported, a spotlight was shone on the heroes and heroines who mustered and mastered managing many of the ‘medical waves’ that preceded it.  It is indeed far from new news, that a host of countries have, and do continue to face inadequacies and challenges in their workforce, particularly regarding staffing levels and the maintenance of their morale and momentum. In 2016 it was estimated that an additional 18 million healthcare workers would be required in order to actualise Universal Health Coverage. Now COVID-19 is creating an additional burden in the form of health worker deaths, infection, exhaustion, mental trauma, long-COVID, and attrition. As we progress through the International Year of the Health and Care Worker, we have an unprecedented opportunity to powerfully recognise, re-position, and reverberate our policies as a clarion call to a much needed global revival of their empowerment through autonomy within the health and care worker professions, and by way of assuring a patient’s continuum of (health) care. When we look at the progress made through upskilling Nigeria’s healthcare professionals in previous years, the importance of accredited and assessed evidence-based practice and care facilitation has been a central and vital component. It has not only strengthened the promise of career progression, but affords and assures the safety and provision of an uncompromised work environment for the health and care giver, and for their family when it comes time for ‘clocking off.’  

Setting the precedent for success in Nigeria - the eradication of wild polio virus

  Taking a deep-dive into case studies such as the successful eradication of the wild polio virus in Nigeria, we have seen that females on the frontline have been instrumental in building trust within communities, and thus, successfully facilitating uptake of vaccinations and immunisations.  The national polio eradication programme led through the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) and in partnership with the WHO and Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), successfully leveraged a gender strategy that addressed the challenges of gender inequalities in immunisation and vaccination. The approach ensured that all house-to-house vaccination team members for the polio campaign were females in order to guarantee access to children both inside and outside of the house.  The multidisciplinary team sent out to women and children in hard-to-reach settlement areas also comprised at least one nurse or midwife and a host of community health extension workers. The female polio workers in particular, provided vital information about immunisation and other health related interventions available at the health facilities during their interactions with caregivers in the household. Pregnant women received antenatal care, malaria preventive therapy, iron folate, tetanus toxoid vaccine and treatment of illnesses (e.g. malaria and respiratory infections) or referral for care. Children aged 0–59 months received a full complement of routine immunizations (including oral polio vaccine), vitamin A supplements, deworming, diagnosis and referral for malnutrition, treatment of diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria and additional referrals as required. In addition, all women attending outreach sessions were provided with health education on key household practices; hand washing, personal hygiene and infant feeding including exclusive breastfeeding. Ultimately the responsibility was not just to eradicate the polio virus, but to ensure a healthier life after the virus itself.  Even in the weakest of healthcare infrastructures, female health workers demonstrated an ability to deliver quality healthcare for all.  My WBFA has remained committed to administering care and informed accurate counsel to women and families even at the height of the pandemic, and their success in delivering a quality continuum of maternity, newborn and child health care serves as proof and support for increased investments in the direction of upskilling and responsibilities.  This is what the frontline requires, and desires to have access to. The determined community health-worker even in the most rural parts of sub-saharan Africa dreams of inner-city impact beyond leveraging locality. This will only be made possible by way of up-skilling, adequate remuneration and qualifying him or her as a vibrant and accredited professional healthcare practitioner. Increasing investments from the start of a CHW’s journey, and dream in the direction of impact, is therefore vital.

Strengthening routine maternity and child health services in a pandemic: could nurses, midwives and community healthcare workers capitalise the Covid-19 response?

  Midwives, nurses and the community health workers who aspire to follow in their footsteps are majorly women, and have proven to be effective in facilitating better maternal and child health outcomes, essential newborn care, SRH education and the promotion of breastfeeding and immunisation, and we must ensure that our healthcare policies reflect that of equal remuneration and equal access to facilities - truly personifying the front in frontline. Growing studies such as the ICM, UNFPA, WHO 'Impact of Midwives' published in Lancet Global Health estimate that, relative to current coverage, universal coverage of midwife-delivered interventions would avert 67% of maternal deaths, 64% of neonatal deaths, and 65% of stillbirths, allowing 4·3 million lives to be saved annually by 2035. Lives saved can only be accomplished through realising the unabridged potential of midwives, through augmented skills and competencies, conducive teams and enabling work environments by way of increased investments. If increased coverage and efficacy of midwife-delivered interventions can be achieved, national and subnational health systems will provide more effective coverage of essential sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, and adolescent health interventions. In the 2020 Year of the Nurse and Midwife, I was pleased to crown the conclusion of my second term and 6 years of service as the Inaugural Global Goodwill Ambassador to the International Confederation of Midwives in leading my Wellbeing Foundation Africa to join Member States and Non-State Actors at the 73rd WHO World Health Assembly, in unison, speaking to the critical role of health and care workers in ensuring our health and prosperity. We emphasized the urgency and imperative to address persistent health worker challenges.  Ahead of the 74th World Health Assembly, recognising the need to advocate for a gender equal health and care workforce, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa which had launched its own Women Girls and Gender Development Targets in November 2020 wholeheartedly endorses and supports actions in the health and care sectors in the 4 identified areas: Increasing the number of women health workers in leadership roles, recognising the value of unpaid health care work and the importance of equal pay in the health and social sectors, protecting women health workers from harassment and violence in the workplace, ensuring safe and decent working conditions for all health workers. From the community healthcare worker aspiring to facilitate life’s first cry, to the autonomous and multi-skilled practitioner working to ensure the promise of optimal care, the priority must remain; to welcome, protect and preserve life from cradle to age.  For my native Nigeria, the last six years in particular have demonstrated that fervency and commitment towards tackling outbreaks of deadly disease lies in repeated and robust methods of prevention, namely vaccination and medical equity, ensuring dissemination of information is evidence-based, culturally-sensitive and digestible, all while building a societal trust that averts a culture of hesitancy to any treatment of any kind.  The Wellbeing Foundation Africa is committed to tackling health, gender and global development together, as we prioritise equity, facilitate decent work conditions and increase investments in the direction of upskilling in a bid to position the midwife, the nurse, and all female healthcare workers, towards a gender equal health workforce, truly leading at the front of the frontline. Making our commitments to the ethical principles and practices of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel (Code), we continue to urge prioritization of support and safeguards for the countries with the greatest vulnerability, including greater investment, and endorsed the call to action for WHO and development partners to strengthen its financing, implementation and monitoring and moving purposefully beyond applauding the contributions of the frontline health workforce, to deliberate and intentional investments in health, health systems and in health and care workers. To quote Her Royal Highness Princess Muna of Jordan, at the 73rd World Health Assembly, “applause without action is no longer acceptable. Recognition without rights and proper remuneration is not sufficient. A resolution without implementation is not governance. We must invest in health workers.”  I endorse Her Royal Highness’ sentiments to further urge all Member States, International Financing Institutions, Global Health Initiatives and partners to invest in health workforce readiness, education and learning, to manage the pandemic, maintain health services and roll out the COVID-19 Vaccine, the WHO has given clear direction on consensus and the necessary actions on the health and care workforce. We must now, at our global, national and subnational frontlines, ensure that this key consensus necessarily unites, includes and integrates a gender equal approach to capitalise female leadership in the global health workforce.

This World NTD Day, the Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) community is further shining a light on the critical role that access to clean water and sanitation plays in the prevention of these illnesses. The just-launched World Health Organization (WHO) NTD road map is a clear indication that tides and times are changing, with a much needed focus being placed on the need for increased incorporation of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).  According to the CDC, 100 percent of low-income countries are simultaneously affected by at least five of the 20 parasitic, bacterial, viral and protozoan infections grouped together as NTDs, and 149 countries and territories are affected by at least one NTD. 1.7 billion people worldwide live with these diseases that deform bodies, blind and kill, disrupt children’s education, limit lifetime productivity; and ultimately traps families and communities in cycles of poverty that contribute to crippling economies.  My Wellbeing Foundation Africa serves as an example of the powerful role that the facilitation of WASH plays in  successfully inhibiting all 20 NTDs; from outright prevention and effective treatment, to reducing prevalence of many more by between 33 to 70 percent (including intestinal worms which half a billion school children are at risk of.) Except... three billion people do not have access to water in their home. 900 million children go to schools without accessible handwashing facilities, and in the battlegrounds of disease itself, nearly 2 billion patients and healthcare staff must rely on healthcare facilities without water where care is provided. Sadly, access to WASH is that neglected. I believe and continue to demonstrate that the solution for combatting NTD’s starts and ends with WASH – a message that the onset of the global pandemic successfully communicated to members of the NTD community. The global health focus must continue to shift from solely reflecting treatment as the primary solution, and embrace the power of prevention through WASH. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused policymakers, global health advocates and donors to step away from a culture that previously undermined the relationship between WASH and disease prevalence. For a fifth year in a row, last year one billion people were treated for NTDs. While this is extraordinary outreach, it begs us to question how much of that suffering could have been prevented all together if children weren’t drinking intestinal worm-laden water and women weren’t irreversibly blinded at four times the rate of men by flies thriving in open waste? Despite excellent work being done to bring needed attention to these 20 diseases that attack the most vulnerable, and the efforts to get medications to them, the economic toll remains high and the human suffering remains devastating.  This is no small problem and my country, Nigeria, is a case in point.  According to WaterAid, 95 percent of healthcare centers in Nigeria are without basic WASH provisions, as well as 79 percent of all households. It is both alarming, and no surprise, that in a country where the majority of its citizens lack WASH and ranks first among nations in open defecation, half of its population—an estimated 100 million people—are at risk for at least one NTD. Nigeria carries 25 percent of Africa’s entire NTD burden. In 2013, the Federal Ministry of Health sought to reduce NTD morbidity and mortality, including by scaling-up WASH and other interventions—a step in the right direction. Guinea worm has been eliminated in Nigeria with a dramatic decline in three other NTDs (lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and trachoma which causes irreversible blindness). But Nigerians are far from NTD-free and even farther from having the water and sanitation they deserve. One of the goals of my organization, The Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA), is to improve health outcomes for women, children, and infants. We are committed to improving and increasing access to WASH in healthcare facilities, schools and communities across Nigeria, in a bid  to reduce and eventually eradicate the prevalence of NTDs. WBFA’s team of midwives, in partnership with Unilever Lifebuoy Nigeria and Sightsavers, have reached more than two million children at-risk of NTDs, all while improving the education and hygiene practices. These school-based efforts reinforced in children, their families and communities the importance of prioritising WASH interventions, including handwashing with soap.  The new WHO NTD road map is a much welcomed northern star. For the first time, there is a global target for WASH that countries must meet over the next 10 years – a solidified set of directions that will mark long-term change at each juncture. A companion strategy on integrating WASH will follow later this spring and making way for new collaboration calls for investments, programming and policies to assure universal and sustainable WASH coverage in NTD endemic areas, otherwise, we risk losing the gains made in reducing NTDs over this past decade and into the future.  COVID-19 has ushered in greater understanding of the integral role WASH plays in public health. It is fair to say, that unacceptable WASH conditions not only fan the flames of COVID-19 where people cannot adequately wash their hands, they contribute to many less infamous but pervasive diseases that cause great harm, like, NTDs. At a time when the world is focused on global health, the NTD community is offering important leadership that I hope will encourage many other global health efforts to stop neglecting what is the singular foundation upon which to build better health. About the Author: Her Excellency Mrs. Toyin Saraki is Founder/President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA). She is a former regional First Lady and Nigerian philanthropist who has spent two decades as a global advocate on behalf of women. She is a former two-term Global Goodwill Ambassador for the International Confederation of Midwives and a Special Advisor to the Independent Advisory Group of the WHO’s Regional Office for Africa. @ToyinSaraki

Reflecting on the challenge of reinforcing and replenishing community-centred care during covid-19.

Download my 2020 annual review here

In 2020, the power and determination of people around the globe were faced by an unprecedented set of circumstances - the coronavirus pandemic. Reflecting on the challenges that arose, and remembering the many lives affected and tragically lost during this turbulent time, I can conclude that the moving parts of my programmatic and advocacy strategy had intuitively developed the key resilience, innovation and agility required to face the many variations of each day, head on. To arrive at a place of strength following a journey through unpredictability, shows that we’ve come a long way. From my own personal experiences that structured my philanthropy, to applying learning and knowledge everyday I continued to take every opportunity to advocate for better maternity and health conditions of women, newborns, children and adolescents, and my Wellbeing Foundation Africa reached over 96,000 families, and 62,800 frontline health workers - even during the pandemic. Armed with decades of frontline experience and informed by the everyday stories of the beneficiaries of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, I am guided by the core themes of WASH, improving the social determinants of health and wellbeing, poverty alleviation, economic empowerment, promoting global public health advances, the rise of women and girls, and harnessing the promise of technology which underpin my broader goal and that of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, in working to reduce maternal and newborn deaths (SDG 3.1 and 3.2). I continue to advocate for greater innovation in tackling pressing contemporary topics such as beating non-communicable diseases, improving access to STEM education, maintaining the momentum behind the women’s equality movement, and the call for radical new ways of rebuilding sustainable economies and cleaner environments. As we navigate the coronavirus pandemic, we continue to prioritise our targets to end hunger and malnutrition through our Stronger Together collaborations to improve the SDGs. I reflect on 2020 by expressing my appreciation for the Trustees, Global Advisory Council, Vice President and entire Wellbeing Foundation Africa management and frontline teams in Nigeria and Ghana. Our consistent purpose in implementing our mission to end preventable deaths of mothers and children, improving nutritional outcomes, increasing access to WASH, supporting families through the reproductive health and education journeys, promoting gender equity for all, is actualised - daily. The 2021 Year Of Health And Care Workers finds us in our 17th year of dedicated philanthropic focus, extensive frontline programmatic actions and significant global, national and sub-national partnerships. I am pleased to share the 2020 Global Office & Philanthropy Annual Review.

Download the Report here.

We acknowledge and appreciate the support of all respected and esteemed friends and associates from all walks of life, including many others that we may have forgotten to mention.  Perhaps you sent a lovely card, or sat quietly in a chair, perhaps you sent beautiful flowers. If so, we saw them there. Perhaps you sent or spoke kind words and prayers, as any friend could say; perhaps you were not there at all, just thought of us that day. Whatever you did to console the heart, we thank you so much, whatever the part. Your kindness provided a soothing balm to the tragedy that Prince Adedapo’s sudden departure represents to us. Adedapo was our warrior Prince, our symbol of courage, bravery, valour and peace, who has gone to meet our ancestors. It is within our sober knowledge and wisdom that in every sunshine, a little rain must fall. We thank you for standing by us in our time of sorrow and we pray that Almighty God will continue to bless you all. Respectfully, and with grateful appreciation,   Adeyinka Adekunle Ojora and Toyin Ojora Saraki On behalf of the Ojora Royal Family of Lagos.  

The Ojora Family of Lagos sadly regrets to inform of the death of our dearly beloved son, brother, uncle and father, Omo-Oba Adedapo Adelanke Abdulfatah Ojora on Friday 11th December, at his Ikoyi, Lagos residence. We are grateful to the Lagos State Police Command for immediately commencing an investigation into the circumstances of his death - the outcome of which we await. As we mourn our irreparable and devastating loss, we appreciate the condolence messages and prayers that we have received, and seek your understanding that the family be allowed to grieve in private. Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course. We ask that you continue to pray for the repose of Adedapo's soul. Amen.  

It’s time to put the ‘move’ in movement; assessing the Role of Nigeria’s Multi-Disciplinary Health Response in Identifying, Establishing & Delivering Interventions in Cases of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) On Thursday December 10^th the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) held its innovative #EndViolence Webinar. The well attended and highly discursive event was the culmination of the United Nations (UN) 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV) which took place from November 25^th to December 10^th. The Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s commitment to ending gender-based violence and harmful practices as per the SDG’s three zeroes, extends beyond childbearing women at health facilities, and daily transcends into teaching our Adolescent Skills and Drills PSHE curriculum in schools across Nigeria. Our commitment here is to teaching adolescents what is deemed a healthy relationship and how to spot and respond to abuse including child marriages in a safe and trusted authentic space. Our health workers also seek to provide adolescents with personal social and health education on sexual and reproductive health and rights. The webinar brought together healthcare practitioners, midwives, policymakers, WBFA staff and those in the field of broadcast media/journalism with the objective of introducing them to WBFA’s newly developed protocol for recognising, referring and aiding victims of violence against women and girls whilst also identifying areas of co-operation to combat the growing cases of GBV in Nigeria. Speakers on the day parted with a multitude of knowledge, expertise and experiences which included the keynote address by the Founder-President of the Wellbeing Foundation HE Toyin Saraki, Dr Otun Adewale Olalekun, Abuja state team lead, WBFA, Dr Muna Abudullah, Health System Specialist at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Fati Abubakar a renowned photojournalist from Maiduguri, Borno State and Aisha Salaudeen, a multimedia journalist with CNN International. Throughout all our work, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa promotes and achieves the WHO’s recommendations on how countries can improve quality of care in their health facilities and prevent maternal and newborn deaths, based on its standards for improving quality of maternal and newborn care in health facilities, and even before a woman with child arrives  - as our accountability policy and targets - and we deliver this through our investment in community midwifery, localising care: 1)    Pregnant women should receive the right care, at the right times 2)    Newborns should receive essential care immediately after birth 3)    Small and sick babies should be well cared for in a facility 4)    All women and newborns must receive care that prevents hospital-acquired infections 5)    Health facilities must have an appropriate physical environment 6)    Communication with women and their families must be effective and respond to their needs 7) Women and newborns who need referrals can obtain them without delay 8) No woman should be subjected to harmful practices during labour, childbirth, and the early postnatal period 9) Health facilities need well-trained and motivated staff consistently available to provide care- 10) Every woman and newborn should have a complete, accurate, and standardized medical record. Addressing the silent pandemic of violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the cardinal focal points of WBFA’s engagement and policy strategy. According to UN Women, one in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence mostly by an intimate partner. Further studies estimate that in Africa, between 23 to 49% of pregnant women experience physical, sexual and emotional violence from an intimate partner during their pregnancy. There has been an increase in reports of gender based violence cases in all six geopolitical zones in Nigeria since the pandemic began but a lack of systematic data collection and a political/cultural system that favours the accused rather than the victim has meant that indices of violence against women continue to grow. This gave added importance to WBFA’s #EndViolence Webinar. The theme of the webinar was ‘Assessing the role of the multidisciplinary team in recognising, reporting and ultimately, reprimanding perpetrators in cases of VAWG’. The speakers actively discussed and detailed their roles as stakeholders in providing intervention plans for survivors and victims. H.E Toyin Saraki in her keynote speech detailed the intervention programmes of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa via their Wellbeing Midwives who have been trained to spot the early warning signs of a GBV victim, whilst the foundations Mamacare classes have remained a point of communication, community and safety for women throughout their pregnancy. Dr Abudullah described the tireless work of the UNFPA’s advocacy efforts in Africa in the areas of data gathering and analysis, increased training of healthcare workers to tackle the rising cases of GBV and by building a referral pathway system for the safe reporting of GBV victims. Photojournalist Fati Abubakar gave a candid insight into her work which has seen her go into the epicentre of the Boko Haram scourge & detail through a visual medium the tragedy taking place in north east Nigeria. She emphasised the importance of visualisation which gives strength to the story of the victim. Journalist Aisha Salaudeen, helped participants to understand the variety of ways to help illuminate the story of GBV cases, emphasising that news agencies must ensure not only the safety of the victim when describing their travails but also to adhere to a code of conduct to protect the dignity of survivors of GBV whilst also telling their story with empathy.  Dr Otun Olalekun provided a thorough case study of the ongoing advocacy projects and Initiatives the WBFA are currently conducting in the fight against GBV. This includes the creation of the community based adolescent program which helps teach young girls about GBV and how they can protect themselves and the continuation of the far reaching MamaCare program which has educated and engaged midwives and health workers in over 40 different facilities throughout Nigeria in the areas of S/GBV. The webinar provided a discursive platform for a plethora of professionals, advocates, health workers and policy makers to engage in an issue of great importance. It was resolved that collective efforts will be undertaken to engage key stakeholders in tackling S/GBV whilst focusing on enhancing frontline efforts, aiding security and shadowing facilitation and strengthening abuse referral processes. When I launched the Wellbeing Foundation Africa Global Foundation For Elimination of Domestic Violence by way of the Peace One Day collaboration back in 2012, I was on a trajectory towards what is today, the actualisation of my commitment to the #ICPD25 three zeros; zero unmet need for contraception; zero preventable maternal deaths; and zero gender-based violence and harmful practices, such as child marriage and female genital mutilation. Since then, my commitment to #endingviolence has remained a daily priority, and is personified through my Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s community midwives. The continuum of care offered by way of the  #Mamacare360 maternity programs, and every educator and practitioner’s efforts to remain working in tandem with the next generation of young men and women and their families through PSHE to tackle and contribute to the lessening of these dire figures remains both critical and crucial. As we unite to fund, respond, prevent and collect the key evidence and expertise to end this ongoing silent pandemic, I remain resolute in advocacy and actions towards recognising and championing human rights, safety, protection and justice to #endVAWG.    

The most powerful way for an advocate to authenticate her message, is to remain at the heart of the demographic requiring its voice to be heard, but equally so, to join forces with other committed voices.  My mission to confirm collective needs, develop solutions and provide for society's most vulnerable citizens means galvanising action and joining forces voices - during these #16days of activism and beyond.  Women and girls must be made safe, and we must #EndViolence, now.  Comfort Lamptey H.E. Jesper Kamp Siddharth Chatterjee Segun Awosanya Kingsley Moghalu and our own dear Wellbeing Foundation Africa Vice President Dr Alero Roberts  Thank you.  We are for others, who we are for ourselves.  #16days #WBFA16days [embed]https://youtu.be/O1bb09DeATw[/embed]

I am heartbroken, along with millions of Nigerian mothers, grandmothers, and women, to have borne witness to the killing of a still uncounted number of our nation’s young citizens, protesting peacefully, holding the flag of our nation, behind a barrier, at the Lekki Tollgate, on the October 20^th, 2020.

Our nation’s young citizens were shot in cold blood as many of them sat on the ground singing our national anthem. They were shot by their own army, by soldiers whose job it is to protect them. And they were shot in the complete absence of members of Nigeria’s Police Force, whose job it likewise is to protect the lives and property of civilians, and who have sadly proven themselves to be under-trained, under-equipped and thus over-strained in times of crisis, incapable and unwilling to exercise the standard stewardship of crowd control.

It is no secret that the peaceful protests concern the glaring impunity and militarization of the Nigeria Police Force’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad’s brutality towards young Nigerians which had reached the fever pitch of a public safety emergency, culminating in widespread reports of intimidation, harassment and extrajudicial killings – and that young people had organically risen, together, yet leaderless, to peacefully oppose this constant threat to their normal lives. In the last 24 hours, these protests were visibly disrupted in several cities by armed thugs. While the latter appeared to have the backing of the organs of state, in some instances they even killed innocent policemen. Last night, the Nigerian Army came out of its expansive barracks to ‘control’ a group of protesters on the Lekki Bridge Toll Gate, linking two of Lagos’s most exclusive residential communities. The young people had gathered peacefully behind a barrier as can be seen from all manner of media footage. The army fired live rounds not into the air but into the crowd, at close range, killing several and injuring an indeterminate number – in a flagrant contravention of the protocols of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Moreover, in so doing the commanding officer ignored the human rights of freedom of speech and assembly, and the right to protest peacefully, despite Nigeria being a signatory to the ICCPR.

My ears have rung with the mournful blare of howling sirens ever since, as ambulances contributed by private hospitals made their way, with difficulty through the curfews and against the odds, to the scene of bloodshed and death, to try to provide care, for the injured, and the murdered dying.

Behind every statistic of inhumanity and injustice is a story, and behind each human being and young citizen is a family. The Nigerian flag, standing for peace, progress and unity, has been indelibly stained with the blood of our young citizens, who themselves were protesting against the SARS’s notorious record of thousands of incidents of rape, torture, un-anaesthetised testicular castrations, and extra-judicial killings, not to mention wanton acts of theft – the very crime it was established to curb. As a mother and grandmother, and I know I am not alone, I fully understand the determination of the youth movement advocating peacefully to #EndSARS and #ReformPoliceNG in Nigeria. At the same time, as a patriot, I am deeply concerned by the disruptions to the nation's safety, peace and productivity.

To build a nation, youth empowerment and youth development should be supported as a process where young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. They should be supported as they address their situation, transform their consciousness through their own beliefs, values, and attitudes, and take action in order to improve their lives. Youth empowerment is a gateway to much needed inter-generational equity, civic engagement and democracy building.

Many have called for our nation’s youth to ‘sheathe their swords’, appoint leaders and representatives to embark on dialogue with belatedly yet urgently assembled government commissions – but we must recognize this incontrovertible fact: the youth never had any swords.

All they had were their voices, hopes, aspirations and patriotism. If their words were swords, then we know how frightening words must be for the current administration.  How can an invitation to sit down at a table for proposed dialogue be so frightening as to be simultaneously accompanied by fatal aggression and bloodshed? Who called our army out to kill, maim and injure our nation’s youth – all of whom eagerly and enthusiastically give a year of their efforts and energies to our mandatory National Youth Service Corps.

It is a travesty, and a crime, that young Nigerians should be shot in cold blood simply because they empowered themselves to develop and declare five wishes to live, work and prosper with respect and rights, as occurred on 20^th October, 2020. Silence is not an acceptable answer amidst the public calls for dialogue, and Nigeria must hold itself to account.

I urge Nigerian officials and the Nigerian military, to immediately cease the violent and in part fatal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Nigeria. I urge the Nigerian Police to redouble its discipline to safely secure lives and property. My heart is broken along with all those who have lost a loved one in the violence. I ask the world and the diplomatic community to stand with Nigerians who are peacefully demonstrating for police reform and an end to injustice and corruption in our democracy.

I thank the churches and religious leaders, who threw open their parish doors to offer our nation’s young citizens refuge and have sought to encourage the government to engage in a good-faith dialogue with civil society. It is time to address these long-standing grievances and work together for a just, inclusive, peaceful and united Nigeria. I thank the hospitals that have worked tirelessly and free of charge to do what they could to treat the gunshot wounds many young people had. It was an act of profound solidarity at a time when our nation’s officials abandoned our young. For the blood of Nigeria’s young citizens that has been spilled, for daring to raise their voices to peacefully demand a better future of inter-generational equity and accountability for all, we must do our utmost to ensure that their blood was not shed in vain. Our nation just celebrated 60 years of independence, autonomy, agency and governance. We remain in measured hope as we pray that our young citizens continue to surpass us in their achievements, and we will not forget.

We’re all scrambling to wash our hands, but handwashing isn’t reaching women who are the backbone of societies.

How poignant it is that Global Handwashing Day, during the greatest pandemic in modern history, falls on the same day as International Day of Rural Women? Rural women are at once the backbone of our society and the most stifled by a lack of access to water, sanitation and hygiene resources. Globally, throughout shutdowns and lockdowns, rural women are continuing to do the work to provide the sustenance that each and every one of us needs to be able to survive the day. Rural women are predominant in the field of agriculture (globally, one in three employed women works in agriculture, which rings true to Nigeria as well). Rural women protect our food security and support our nutrition, manage our land and subsequently our natural resources. They are on the frontline when the elements that support our homesteads are threatened, as they are most responsible for unpaid domestic care work.  At the same time, the most prominent advice that we have to prevent the spread of the pandemic is to wash our hands. So while some companies alter their supply chains to create hand sanitizer and new handwashing stations are installed in developed countries’ public spaces, the fact remains that over 2 billion people globally lack basic access to handwashing facilities, primarily in developing countries like Nigeria. The lack of access to WASH facilities for handwashing is most prevalent in rural communities: in Nigeria, 70% of households in rural communities do not have access to improved water supply. These rural communities are likely to rely on water sources such as rivers, streams, ponds and unprotected wells; and in 80% of households without piped water, they rely on women and girls for water collection. Water from rivers, streams and ponds are susceptible to water borne diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, malaria parasites etc, and ultimately, unsafe drinking water, inadequate availability of water for hygiene, and lack of access to sanitation together contribute to about 88% of deaths from diarrheal diseases. While our world scrambles to think of innovative new ways to implement the World Health Organisation’s new guidance on hand hygiene to protect against Covid-19, we in Nigeria must remember that it is rural women who must be prioritised first. As the backbone of our country and the people most responsible for ensuring our sustenance from food and water, their access to handwashing resources is of utmost importance. What’s more: soap is not expensive, but a lack of soap is VERY expensive: it costs the world 134,147,060,000,000 Naira. It is time for Nigeria to invest in hygiene, and country-led programmes to accelerate progress and sustainable impact for the people who lack basic handwashing facilities. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa Mamacare midwives help remedy the issue in Nigeria by going deep into rural communities, health facilities and schools to ensure water, sanitation and hygiene. We call our dedicated interlocutors 'Sanitation Angels,' as they deliver key knowledge and best practice techniques at public and private primary, secondary and tertiary health facilities across Nigeria. Another organisation doing an amazing job aiming to reach rural women is ACWW, who is hosting a Survey on Living Conditions Of Rural Women, which I ask that you share with rural women in your life.  

The anguished scenes coming from our beloved nation Nigeria, of peaceful young protesters being forcefully dispersed, arrested and even injured and killed, are cause for sobering concern, even as many have noted the announcement that the SARS is to be immediately disbanded. The scenes speak to the state of the nation's wellbeing, and what affects one citizen, affects us all. The Economic and Social Research Council, which supports police reform in Nigeria, has assessed that between 2015 and 2019, over 40,000 lives were lost to violent crime, civil unrest and banditry, over 1,000 police officers died or were missing in the line of duty, over N600 billion Naira is estimated to have been lost to violent unrest and crime, while thousands of complaints have been filed to and by the police. Among those is a complaint regarding the molestation of a group of 70 women alleged to be sex-workers in Abuja in 2018 and 2019. That these women were treated by the authorities as less than human is at once a grave offense to their dignity and at the same time, an all-too-common occurrence. Our commitments and endorsement of United Nations Resolution 1325 specifically call for a reduction on violence against the female gender particularly because it is ultimately women and girls who bear the brunt in conflict. That our police system so blatantly flies in the face of internationally recognised orders that promote the healthy development of a country is antithetical to its purpose and existentially damaging to our nation's progress. It is poignant that yesterday was International Day of the Girl, and it was notable that I saw images of steadfast female activist Aisha Yesufu insist on social justice, and so many other young women rising to provide representation and relief. I see hope and practical expressions of loyalty to our nation's ideals in our women and youth. Our young citizens have made five requests of our nation's leaders:

•  Immediate release of all arrested protesters
• Justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensation for their families
• Setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of police misconduct within 10 days
• In line with the new Police Act, psychological evaluation and retraining (to be confirmed by an independent body) of all disbanded SARS officers before they can be redeployed
• Increase police salary so that they are adequately compensated for protecting lives and property of citizens.

I urge decision-makers to listen to the voices and experiences of young citizens to chart a positive path forward in ending brutality, initiating reform towards restoring rights, civil liberties, safety, security and peace.

The empowerment of girls directly relates to their ability to obtain a quality of education, and ultimately, the rise of girls directly correlates with a nation’s ability to sustainably develop. 

On International Day of the Girl Child in the middle of the global pandemic which has seen the project of ensuring the systems to empower women and girls plummet, I am lending my voice to our equal future by celebrating girls' right to education. We must eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls and build the will of leaders to commit to a course of action—and an intentional and deliberate community of practice—that helps girls to rise, from respectful care from birth and the cradle, to productive and prosperous age. Girls face multiple challenges purely because of their age and gender. Around 62 million girls around the world have no access to education and less than 40% of countries provide girls and boys with equal access to education. From being denied an education to experiencing teenage pregnancies and being forced into child marriage, girls face a myriad of obstacles that prevent them from realising their full potential.  In Nigeria, 10.5 million of the country’s children aged 5-14 years are not in school, and in some states in the north, more than half of the girls are not enrolled in schools at all. With the impact of Covid-19, children who were already most at risk of being excluded from a quality education have been most affected. Girls are more likely to be pulled out of school to take care of the family at home during the pandemic, and studies have also found girls’ access to mobile internet is 26% lower than for their male peers. Researchers found that previous epidemics have forced more girls than boys to halt their studies, which impacted economic prospects for a generation of young women. Yet we know that when a girl is educated, she is enabled, empowered and engendered to realise her full potential.  This was why, in my subnational advocacy as the First Lady of Kwara State from 2003 to 2011, I had deliberately and historically made it a point of principle and action to lend my voice and effort in mobilising women's groups and cooperatives to advocate strongly for the retention of the girl child in education. I also advocated for the domestication and implementation of Child Rights legislation through the Kwara State Child Rights Law of 2007, the Kwara State Safe Maternity Services Law of 2010, a strategic partnership with NAPTIP to strengthen anti trafficking protocols, and the establishment of a framework to deliver universal health coverage through the Kwara State Community Health Insurance Scheme. By the time I hosted Nigeria’s first Child Rights Conference in 2010, it was clear that the results went deeper than benefits to education, health and societal wellbeing that earned Kwara State the UNICEF accolade of being "fit for a child,” as the first of Nigeria's 19 northern states to reach this ambitious standard. By 2011, Kwara State was not only recognised as the state whose girls were the oldest in the nation at their first sexual encounter, but also recorded over 35% of women in elective and appointive positions at federal and state levels, including several Senior Ministers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, namely Amina Ndalolo, Halima Tayo Alao, Olufunke Adedoyin, and an ambassador, Nimota Akanbi. Nationally, I lent my voice, effort and resources to the successful passage of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law, the rights of women to inheritance, the Breastmilk Substitutes Law, legislation to protect students in tertiary institutions from sexual harassment , and raising an evidenced body of analysis to challenge a perplexing constitutional amendment aimed at treating a married minor as an adult for renunciation of citizenship. The journey has also registered disappointments, significantly, the failure of Nigeria’s Gender Equality and Opportunities Bill. Unsurprisingly, the effects of conflict and unrest have been sharply highlighted in Nigeria’s North-East since the 2014 abductions of the Chibok Girls, and many more victims of enforced disappearances, necessitating the development of a dedicated strategy for the prevention of sexual violence in conflict PSVI, in support of United Nations Resolution 1325 though engaging globally with the United Kingdom-France PSVI Consultations and UNWomen African Women Leaders Network, and regionally with the African Union and Ecowas Consultations.  Health and wellbeing are indivisibly intertwined with educational opportunities in powering a healthy, prosperous and productive future, so to raise a pipeline of confident girls, the percolation of tree-top advocacy must cascade to frontline grassroots action, thus My Wellbeing Foundation Africa knows that an expanded investment in girls’ education, in providing personal social and health education not only equips girls with skills and knowledge to grow and prosper, but it helps their siblings, family, and wider community to thrive as well. Girls who stay in school are more likely to support themselves, look after their health, avoid early marriage and early pregnancy and contribute more to society. That’s why one of the ways we support the Girl Declaration and a girls' right to education is through our primary schools and adolescent PSHE WASH program sessions. Our approach is unique: powered by the professional interlocutory capacities of our groundforce of professionally qualified community midwives, we work directly with schools and communities to help them create a better and healthier future for their children and themselves. While the confidence to initiate and cascade innovation may come from being fortunate to be born in circumstances where the opportunities to rise and thrive are guaranteed, I am encouraged that we can build a community of better practice for all. That notion is evocative of this picture of myself and two childhood friends from 1969, when we had just celebrated what the world now recognises to be a key milestone and measurement of development and demographic functionality: the age of 5 years. The milestone underscores the importance of the goal that every girl may survive and thrive, with her full complement of rights, to transform her future, and the collective rise of girls and women in our nation.    [caption id="attachment_1229" align="alignnone" width="768"] Left: Sefi Atta, author and playwright
Middle: HE Toyin Saraki
Right: Obi Okigbo, architect and artist[/caption] Today, Sefi Atta, to my left, (born January 1964) is a prize-winning Nigerian-American author, playwright and screenwriter, who qualified as a Chartered Accountant in England, a Certified Public Accountant in the United States, and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Her books have been translated into many languages. Sefi was a juror for the 2010 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and has received several literary awards for her works, including the 2006 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa and the 2009 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa. In 2015, a critical study of her novels and short stories, Writing Contemporary Nigeria: How Sefi Atta Illuminates African Culture and Tradition, was published by Cambria Press. Also a playwright, her radio plays have been broadcast by the BBC and her stage plays have been performed and published internationally. Equally, Obiageli Annabel Zeinab Okigbo (born 1964 Ibadan), grew up in Nigeria until the age of 16. She continued her studies in Kent, then graduated from Oxford Brooks University with a BA in Architecture and pursued her post-graduate studies at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. She practiced architecture in London, Rome and Paris until 1994. In 1995 she moved to Brussels where she now lives. Expanding her reach into the visual arts, she began developing her work on a theoretical level through painting and has consequently exhibited in Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Dubai and Belgium including two major solo exhibitions in Lagos, 2003 and London, 2007. Obi is President of the Christopher Okigbo foundation which she established in 2005, which is tasked with researching and preserving the legacy of Christopher Okigbo, poet (1932-1967). These women are the exemplar that the female gender, given gender-equal and equitable opportunities, will rise. By investing in girls, every girl can be that example. With an eye for achieving all that we have set out for the United Nations’ Decade of Delivery, we must embed the notion and girl declaration that girls’ progress means Sustainable Development Goals’ progress. Before, during and after crises like the pandemic, we must stand with her: we must build a skilled girl force and support that girl force to be unscripted and unstoppable, and lend our voice to our equal future. On International Day of the Girl Child, and always, we must respect and protect her mind, her vision, her spirit. Empowered and educated, girls can do anything they set their minds to. Lets encourage girls to shape the world they want to live in, achieving generation equality, and our planet 50/50 goals, now and today.

This weekend, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa's MamaCare Antenatal & Postnatal Education Program's Whatsapp Maternity Support had the honour to be featured in British Vogue Magazine's Forces For Change October Edition about their work reaching every last mile to care and counsel mums, babies, and their families. I am so proud of their embracing the promise of technology to democratize access to accurate information from conception and the cradle, to age. MamaCare’s WhatsApp world is far from your typical online talkfest. It’s a safe space for pregnant women and new mums in Nigeria to connect, commiserate, congratulate, and voice their honest concerns — including the stuff deemed uncomfortable or taboo — knowing they can count on getting a prompt, accurate response in return. Our midwives, sometimes referred to endearingly as “Mama” by their group members, field questions about everything from breast feeding and nutrition to pregnancy sex and postpartum spotting. By harnessing the power of digital communication I believe that MamaCare will amplify its impact. What’s currently reaching 8,000 mothers a month, can soon evolve into well over 200,000. And with about seven million babies born in Nigeria each year and our goal of providing every single one of them and their families with a safe delivery and quality care, the new WBFA chatbot will be a major step in fast-tracking that ambition. Our tech is going to underpin our frontline. We want to be able to deliver lessons, immunisation reminders, nutrition advice, all by WhatsApp. If something as obtainable as WhatsApp has the capacity to improve medical outcomes for Nigeria’s most disadvantaged women through the diffusion of reliable information, then the world might not be as far from widespread healthcare reform as we once thought. As the developers of a wide range of home and health facilities based health records, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa believes that the role of data collation and analysis is crucial to the evolution of egalitarian healthcare systems. When we’re at a crossroads and we’re not sure what to do, data, if it’s openly and freely available, can lead us forward, hovwever we can’t access data if we’re not accessing the promise and realities of technology. I’m hoping that the WBFA’s use of technology will add this extra layer to all of our programming, and democratise it. Read more about my Forces For Change interview: WhatsApp Is The Key To Democratising Global Healthcare>>

During my childhood in the 1960's, I remember singing our Independence Anthem confidently in the affirmation that though our tribes and tongues may differ, we stand in brotherhood, proud to serve our sovereign motherland. Our flag is a symbol that truth and justice should reign, and our collective dream of being able to hand on to our children, a banner without stain, as we prayed to the Lord of all creation to grant our request to help us build a nation where no man would be oppressed, and so with peace and unity, Nigeria would be blessed.  Nigeria is 60 today, and we have much to celebrate: our indomitable spirit, our endurance, fortitude and resilience - and our hard earned unity. We have an unquenching optimism for progress, and I know that my motherland has come a long way from Independence Day on 1st October 1960 and the vision of our founding fathers till today. Reflecting on our nascent years I can declare that Nigeria was indeed blessed, albeit simply, with abundant natural resources to grow a healthy population and prosperous future for all. At the same time, agitation for equitable management of our abundant natural resources, and the resulting humanitarian crisis directed our first experiences of multilateralism. International donor agencies arrived to assist the suffering and displaced victims of our civil war, as the nation strove to heal its wounds. The multilateral agencies remain with us today, implementing key services towards the sustainable development goals, working alongside national and frontline organisations.  In those early formative years, lacking encounters with the basic day-to-day development challenges that shape creative public policy, our youthful nation paid little intentional and deliberate attention to the status of women and girls. We were so busy building our national unity, which at times was imperiled, that it didn’t occur to us to be intentional in our support for young women and girls to rise, even though culturally we have always revered and respected matriarchs and motherhood. This dichotomy has contributed to shaping some of the most dire realities of not meeting the needs of our women and girls that we as a nation face and experience today, where despite 50% of the electorate being women, the male gender occupies a disproportionate amount of cross-sectoral leadership positions.

The problems we face as a nation are a manifestation of the way in which we built our country, but today, at 60, and surely matured, we have an opportunity to catalyse an inclusive and cohesive course correction. We are centred on reiterating the national call to arise and serve our fatherland with love, strength and faith. We must reiterate that the labour of our heroes’ past shall never be in vain, and to serve our peoples with heart and might: one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity - to reach every last mile.

Right now, Nigeria’s Covid-19 deaths are comparatively low, and our nation’s endurance is high and strong; to me, possibly the product of a fortuitous resilience shaped by our long epidemiological history. However it is clear that the race to combat, contain and control Covid-19 is a marathon and not a sprint. According to The Economist’s Covid Collective Report, states like Nigeria are at risk of being “disproportionately affected because they have the least resources and infrastructure to grapple with the pandemic’s dire health and economic repercussions.” While richer countries are able to do more testing and prepare economic safeguards and recovery, Nigeria has recorded fewer tests per thousand people and has fewer resources to plan recovery.  Examples of collaboration among scientists, however, show that models for better cooperation are possible, and indeed a timely focus on home-grown research and development from Nigeria may yet have much to teach the world. Stronger frameworks and mechanisms for international cooperation are required to mitigate the adverse effects on lives and livelihoods globally, and in fragile settings in particular. The fact that 172 countries globally are engaged in discussions to participate in COVAX – a Covid-19 vaccine global access facility – demonstrates just how powerful global cooperation can be in finding collective solutions to collective problems. On our 60th celebration of independence, we reaffirm our patriotic call to direct our noble cause: that our leaders are guided right, our youth are helped to know the truth, grow in love and honesty, living just and true, attain great and lofty heights, to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign, a pledge to the progress of our nation. But we cannot deny that Covid-19 has laid bare fissures in the multilateral system with far-reaching implications. From climate change to economic recessions, geopolitical tensions to AI disruption, truly global challenges are only going to become more frequent in our increasingly-interdependent world. Every country is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain thus we know that the gaps in domestic and international safety nets are not just a threat to the world’s vulnerable populations but also to the functioning of the global economy and society as a whole.  As we celebrate the transformative power of patriotism, we must remember that no nation thrives entirely alone, and should work towards reviving multilateralism’s promise to ‘leave no one behind’ with particular focus on the effect of the pandemic on our most vulnerable women and girls. With the pandemic upending the world’s structural norms, Nigeria has an opportunity to come out of this dark time with a new energy based on the evidence of what works—and what does not work— to achieve our goals sustainably and for all. To meet the challenges of the 21st century, each and every one of us as individuals, along with our national governments, multilateral actors and humanitarian leaders must heed Covid-19’s wake-up call and unite to give multilateralism the “teeth” it needs to reform, replenish and strengthen national and global resilience both now and when the next crisis emerges, to ensure that our beloved nation Nigeria, and our people will survive, transform and thrive.

The biggest misconception about contraception in Nigeria is that contraceptives encourage promiscuity. The fact is, the education and economic empowerment of women directly correlates to their ability to plan, manage and thrive throughout their experience in the reproductive process.

• The National Task-shifting Policy: When community health workers were allowed to administer injectable contraceptives, the uptake of family planning in hard-to-reach areas went up dramatically. That success was irrefutably demonstrated in Nigeria.
• It will be hugely beneficial to improve clarity on Nigeria’s currently confusing ‘dual-qualification nurse-midwife’ overlap, to provide clear distinctions between the midwifery qualification, and the general nursing qualification, applying the learning from the WHO Midwives Voices Midwives Realities Report, which documents the voices and realities of 2,470 midwifery personnel in 93 countries and describes, from their perspective, the barriers they experience to providing quality, respectful care for women, newborns and their families.

• Integrating the International Confederation of Midwives’ Midwifery Services Framework into Nigeria’s public health policy as the best practice model to strengthen midwifery services to deliver the full complement of maternal and newborn care, including family planning.
• To honor their FP2020 commitments to improving family planning funding and services
• To partner with donors and other non-governmental organizations to increase financing for family planning at all levels
• To strengthen primary health care facilities to provide family planning counseling and services for increased access and improved coverage
• To partner with non- governmental agencies and development partners to build the capacities of healthcare providers across all cadres to encourage task shifting/sharing to overcome human resource constraints
• To strengthen country’s forecasting capacities and supply of family planning capacities
• To adopt innovative approaches such as community-based family planning services, involvement of men, traditional and religious leaders as family planning champions to break religious-cultural barriers
• To continuously create awareness on family planning for women and families to make informed decisions on birth spacing.
• To scale up deployment of patient custody health records and facility and health-worker driven digital records databases to provide real-time transparent and accountable community audit mechanisms in measuring public health services delivery

Poverty, inequality, and geographical barriers all clearly play out in maternal health where both our challenges and opportunities abound.

We should, therefore, guarantee that every woman, everywhere has access to quality care. An essential part of advancing maternal health in Nigeria is accelerating, reinforcing and replenishing the progress of family planning education and services to all women, thus preventing unwanted pregnancy. It is true that women, families and communities need births to grow, yet it is unethical and simply unacceptable to encourage women to give birth in places with low facility capability, with unskilled providers, or where the content of care is not evidence-based. This failing should be remedied as a matter of priority.

The numbers are stark:

Women make up 70% of the global health workforce, but only 25% of global health leadership. That is primarily because midwives and nurses make up nearly 50% of the entire global health workforce, and midwives and nurses are over 90% women. Yet only 13% of CEOs in the global healthcare workforce are women. It is said that unlike other sectors, healthcare does not have a “woman problem,” rather, it has a “women in leadership” problem.  At the same time, there is a global shortage of health workers, in particular nurses and midwives, who represent more than 50% of the current shortage in health workers. And as Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria has one of the largest stocks of human resources to employ in healthcare, but it does not have enough people—women or men—working in the healthcare sector to support its population. At 1.95 per 1,000 people, Nigeria’s density of nurses, midwives and doctors is too low to deliver essential health services, which ultimately contributes to the abysmal state of its healthcare system. With the impact of coronavirus bringing global health systems to a halt, the prolonged lack of investment and systemic issues in Nigeria have compounded its vulnerabilities. This scenario makes the African continent susceptible to becoming the new epicentre of the disease.

To increase the number of health workers in Nigeria and improve on the number of women in positions of leadership in healthcare, we must build a progressive pipeline of confident girls, and support systems to remunerate healthcare workers properly, and build resilient healthcare systems in Nigeria. 

One way I’m working on supporting confident girls is through my organisation Wellbeing for Women Africa, which amplifies the voices of young African girls, by paying a global network of Youth Partners (currently we have 63 YPs from 18 countries) microgrants to write about their perspectives on the most pressing social issues of our time. For instance one YP recently released a study called Wa Wimbi, which demonstrated evidence that regardless of the sector, women continue to face discrimination and they are unable to progress due to gender barriers. The organisation aims to give young women a platform and in that way, a seat at the decision making table to ultimately allow them control over their own future. Because we know that girls’ learned lack of confidence is a barrier to their success later in life, ensuring that girls understand that their voice is important, their viewpoints are valid and that their perspective is not just interesting but worthy of remuneration, is one small way in which we can build a pipeline of women leaders. At the same time, there is an endless need for leaders in the public and private sectors to come together to figure out solutions for better recognition, regulation, respect and remuneration for health care workers in Nigeria in the interest of building that pipeline of healthcare workers in the country. My advocacy on this issue goes from strength to strength as Inaugural Goodwill Ambassador for the International Confederation of Midwives, to my membership of the Concordia Leadership Council, and it’s not an issue that is easily solvable or that can be explained with pithy phrases. It’s going to take international collaboration and years of governmental support to create a resilient system that can hold up over generations. One successful approach to increasing the number of midwives in our country was the Midwifery Service Scheme, established with the help of my Wellbeing Foundation Africa, which mobilizes unemployed and retired but able midwives and newly qualified graduates from Nigerian Schools of Midwifery to rural communities for one year of community service. As I recently noted, best practices identified under the scheme need to be reactivated and consolidated nationally. Within the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, we have seen, recorded and measured the value and sustained impact of placing a highly skilled midwifery workforce at the front, centre and heart of our communities-focused cradle-to-age programming, as coaches, educators, interlocutors, advocates and leaders, as the delivery centrifuge of our unique yet seemingly simple MamaCare Antenatal and Postnatal, SRHR, Nutrition, SGBV PSHE and WASH programs - and the results are crystal clear. Activating, actioning and tracking accurate information regularly through respectful and compassionate compassionate multi-directional conversations engender transformational social behavioural change and trusted learning, which together with deploying data for good, embeds key resilience into our community of best practice, improving the quality of care and lives. The fact remains that we must attract, employ, retain, remunerate and support healthcare workers by giving a powerful leadership path incentive: healthcare in Nigeria must be made a good career choice. A recent Institute of Economic Affairs report makes the case that Nigeria could do more to partner with high-income countries to secure investment, and do more to attract global investors and international financial institutions to finance their healthcare systems. For healthcare workers to want to stay in Nigeria, they must be supported by better working conditions, training, equipment, and insurance related to workplace risks, and remuneration.  Another way I’m working on this is by ensuring healthcare workers are properly trained. My Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care Training Programme, or EmONC, is a ground-breaking partnership between the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Johnson & Johnson and the Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health (CMNH) at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The partnership focuses on EmONC training in healthcare facilities to improve health outcomes for mothers and their newborns, and it has seen 80% of all maternal deaths result from five complications which can be readily treated by qualified and trained health professionals. EmONC training is so successful because it takes place in-house and equips doctors, nurses and midwives, as a collective team, with the skills needed to overcome these obstetric emergencies, in an accelerated knowledge pathway from research bench to bedsides at the multi-tiered facilities most in need. The results again are clear, the state in which we have pioneered this training and achieved program saturation has the enviable status of the lowest preventable maternal and child deaths in the nation, informing my advocacy insistence of a push into the national health strategy, at scale. At the same time, the Institute of Economic Affairs’ report states that “African countries spend more on paying interests on external debts rather than on public healthcare.” It’s a fact that needs to change, and it can change only by way of leadership from the state and local governments, by ensuring our systems can properly fixate systems underpinned by rightly targeted budgetary planning and fiscal appropriations that invest public funds equitably back into the health of our own people to deliver accessible, affordable health care.

I am deeply concerned by the recent findings that Nigeria has overtaken India as the world capital for under-five deaths, according to the UNICEF report 'Levels and Trends in Child Mortality,’ particularly as we had previously seen significant improvements in Nigeria between 1990 and 2015. This distressing news comes just as we congregate virtually this year for the United Nations General Assembly. The report compiles data spanning three decades from 1990 to 2019, and it reveals that 49% of all under-five deaths in 2019 occurred in just five countries: Nigeria, India, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. It finds that Nigeria and India alone account for almost a third of the deaths, and what is evermore worrying is that it is clear that there is a strong potential of a continued mortality crisis in 2020 with the additional strain of the coronavirus pandemic.

I have always felt that if the nation is truly committed to the daily goal of ensuring that our women can give birth safely to babies that can survive and thrive from the cradle to age, we must strengthen and build resilience in our frontline health care services. 

Our primary health care services must be supported beyond bricks and mortar to encompass the full range of quality affordable health care provided by a well equipped, well skilled and adequately remunerated health workforce, who are motivated to deliver respectful maternity and child health care and advice. We must intensify our efforts to engender, enable, empower, replenish and reinforce the capacities of the most appropriate and qualified health professionals to stand with women and their families as a central core focus which will be validated, vindicated and reinforced throughout this Year And Decade of the Midwife and Nurse. We must build resilience within our healthcare system. In my opinion the significant 35% aggregated gains and improvement in maternal and child survival measured between 2010 and 2015 across Nigeria, which is now gravely threatened, was catalysed by the roll-out of the simple yet revolutionary Midwives Service Scheme (MSS), launched in 2009 by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), in 2009 during the administration of late President Umaru Yar Adua. It aimed to address the challenge of Nigeria's very poor record regarding maternal and child health outcomes. An estimated 53,000 women and 250,000 newborns were dying annually mostly as a result of preventable causes. The NPHCDA was tasked with establishing the MSS as a public sector initiative and a collaborative effort between the three tiers of government in Nigeria. A memorandum of understanding between the Federal, State and Local governments set out clearly defined shared roles and responsibilities, which were supported by the Wellbeing Foundation Africa and other strategic partners. The MOU was signed by all 36 states of Nigeria and was designed to mobilise newly qualified, unemployed and retired midwives for deployment to selected primary health care facilities in rural communities and facilitate an increase in the coverage of Skilled Birth Attendance (SBA) to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality. The MSS Technical Working Group (TWG) met regularly to receive updates, review progress and advice in order to provide strategic direction, support and guidance for the implementation of the MSS. The secretariat of the MSS was responsible for day-to-day management, whilst state focal persons served as contact people for the midwives in the MSS. The MSS was based on a cluster model in which four selected primary healthcare facilities with the facility to provide Basic Essential Obstetric Care (BEOC) were clustered around a General Hospital with capacity to provide Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care (CEOC). Qualified professional midwives were deployed to each selected PHC, ensuring 24 hour provision of MNCH services and access to skilled attendance at all births to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality and morbidity. The MSS pilot then covered 163 clusters, which had 652 PHCs and 163 general hospitals. The MSS strengthened the PHC system by distributing basic equipment (midwifery kits, BP apparatus etc, and a comprehensive civil registrations and vital statistics data capture system including partographs, to all facilities, in the form of the IMNCH Personal Health Records and Home-Based Records, developed by the Wellbeing Foundation Africa) to 652 facilities through the vaccine logistics system. The MSS was successful in establishing and reactivating ward development committees WDC's at all MSS PHCs to ensure community participation and ownership in its implementation. The outcomes were impressive and immediately impactful: 2,488 midwives were successful in applying to the MSS and were deployed to PHC facilities. The midwives from all over Nigeria were then given an orientation which I was pleased to host, as a member of the Critical Core Committee of the FMOH to upskill and familiarise them with the scheme. As of July 2010, 2,622 midwives had been deployed to PHC facilities in rural areas. MSS provided capacity building by the creation of a training framework, which was aimed at improving the skills and proficiency of midwives in provision of quality maternal and child health services. The midwives then underwent competency training through Principals of Schools of Midwifery. The MSS planned to implement information and communications technologies support to improve communication and articulated a monitoring and evaluation framework for the scheme.  Partners, including the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, committed to initiating and implementing a two-pronged approach to programme communication: it focused on political leaders and decision makers, as well as clients, through radio, TV, billboards, community outreach, and health centre branding to ignite social and behavioural change and demand creation for health-seeking and health providing orientation. The MSS faced (and still faces) five key challenges, namely: 1) implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding, 2) availability of qualified midwives, 3) retention of midwives, 4) capacity building of midwifes and 5) sustenance of linkages. There needs to be more support and commitment from officers in relevant government departments, which can be achieved by ensuring clarity on the objectives and aim of the MSS. Over the years, several initiatives and programmes had been introduced to reduce mortality among mothers and children in Nigeria. Despite these efforts, poor maternal and child health indices had continued to be one of the most serious development challenges facing the country. Significant progress was accomplished in the implementation of the MSS initiative however and the best practices identified under scheme need to be reactivated and consolidated nationally, with a view to overcome challenges. Despite the dire recent national indices, which were not entirely unexpected given the stoppage of the original MSS and its replacement with an eponymous but less focused model, I remain encouraged to redouble my institutional efforts for maternal and child survival. I am encouraged by the fact that Kwara and Lagos States, where my Wellbeing Foundation Africa has achieved and maintains significant programmatic scale, are now consistently recorded as having the two lowest preventable mortality rates in Nigeria respectively, while Kaduna State and the FCT Abuja where we also work have shown significant improvements. These gains highlight the importance of the WBFA's midwifery-led direct frontline action models which deliver our MamaCare Maternity Education, EmONC Healthworker Training, WASH for Wellbeing and Hygiene in Health Facilities, Child and Adolescent PSHE WASH In Schools, and Alive&Thrive Maternal Infant and Young Child Feeding and Nutrition programs.  In tandem, we support strong accountability frameworks that can hold governments to account on their health commitments to drive a policy continuum of health for all. Mindful of the fact that we have only ten years to accelerate actions towards our 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa is energised by the WHO and multi-lateral agencies’ commitments to pursuing stronger collaborations for better health. In addition, we commit to strengthening deliberate sexual and reproductive health and gender programming and women's leadership, with the simple premise that stronger collaborations contribute to better health. This Global Action Plan for healthy lives and wellbeing for all, will promote, engage, accelerate, align and account for purposeful, systematic, transparent and accountable primary health care. It will create sustainable financing for health, community and civil society engagement, improve determinants of health, invest in innovative programming in fragile and vulnerable settings and for disease outbreak responses as well as research and development, innovation and access, data and digital health.  In promoting better leadership at global, regional and country levels, stronger collaboration is the path, but better health is the destination. If the nation cares to ensure women can give birth safely to babies that survive from the cradle to age, we MUST strengthen frontline health care services, immunisations, nutrition and WASH - I hope that the community of best practice we have developed and implemented towards healthy lives and wellbeing for all, from birth to age may cascade its impact across my nation Nigeria, Africa, and the world.

This week, my Wellbeing Foundation Africa's partners at Amref Health Africa led an excellent session - "A Health Accountability Framework, Holding Governments Accountable for their Health Commitments” . I warmly welcomed the discussion of the importance of supporting strong accountability frameworks, such as the Right to Health Index, that can hold governments to account on their health commitments. The Right To Health Index is grounded in the recognition that health accountability needs to move away from using general statistics and focus instead on identifying specific indicators for use in human rights. In doing so, accountability frameworks can facilitate the realization of health as a human right and universal health coverage for all. Health as a human right has always been central to The Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s work, particularly the infusion of poverty alleviation, rights and gender-based programming into the WBFA's Alaafia Universal Health Coverage Scheme Fund in partnership with the PharmAccess Foundation and Hygeia Community Health Plan.   The Fund, supported the Kwara State Health Insurance Scheme established since 2007 by advocating for the 2012 and 2017 enabling state health insurance legislation, and by directly providing yearly capacitation fees for 5000 pregnant and newly delivered women, as well as adolescents, people living with HIV/AIDS, and elderly beneficiaries annually, within it's over 100,000 enrollees from 2015 onwards. Certainly, this availability of quality affordable care has contributed in no small measure to Kwara State maintaining its status as the state with the lowest maternal and under-5 mortality in Nigeria, at a time when the nation has been confronted with the unfortunate fact of having overtaken India as having the highest and worst preventable deaths of mothers and their young children globally - underscoring the importance of sustaining focused efforts across all 36 states of the federation to arrest this devastating trend of neglect.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVfErQTKH6Y&feature=youtu.be H.E. Senator Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, MBBS, CON, 13th President of the Senate and Chair, 8th Session National Assembly, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Former Kwara State Governor and Chair, Nigeria Governors Forum, at the Scale Up Ceremony of Kwara Community Health Insurance Scheme, Afon, Kwara State, 2009 I was also delighted to learn this week that the health insurance scheme has been recently re-launched with a target of 10,000 more mandatory enrollees. I heartily commend the PharmAccess Foundation and other partners for their focused tenacity in ensuring that the exemplary health insurance-driven universal health coverage model that all partners worked so hard to create and innovate, driven by the mutual vision of H.E Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki  and the late acclaimed global health expert and medical research scientist Joep Lange to render affordable quality health care for all will continue to support and benefit many more people into the future. [caption id="attachment_1199" align="aligncenter" width="603"] Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Hygeia Community Health Plan, Pharmaccess Foundation, World Bank Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Health at Alaafia Universal Health Care Scheme Fund Conclusion Breakfast Meeting, Abuja, Nigeria, January 2017[/caption]

Road safety in Nigeria is both a global health issue and a matter calling for focused national concern: road traffic accidents are the leading cause of death in adolescents in Nigeria. More broadly, there has been an upsurge in the proportion of traffic fatalities witnessed in a number of developing countries while developed nations are witnessing downward trends. 

That is why I welcome the United Nations General Assembly and member states in passing an historic resolution endorsing the “Stockholm Declaration”, aiming to improve and save lives on the world's roads, today. Nigeria has the second largest road network in Africa, and our latest figures show that Nigeria is among the top 50 countries with the highest road traffic deaths. According to the NRSS, population-road ratio was estimated to be 860 persons per kilometre roadway while vehicular density stood at about 39 vehicles per kilometre roadway. Nigeria recorded 337,301 road traffic crashes from 1990 to 2012, out of which 28.6% were fatal, 44.7% were serious, and 26.7% were minor. The overwhelming majority of road traffic deaths and serious injuries are preventable and, despite some improvements, they remain a major public health and development problem that has broad social and economic consequences which, if unaddressed, may affect progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  While each country has primary responsibility for its own economic and social development, the role of national policies, priorities and development strategies cannot be overemphasized in the context of reaching the SDGs. At the same time, international public finance plays an important role in complementing the efforts of countries to mobilize public resources, especially in the poorest and most vulnerable countries with limited domestic resources. I acknowledge the work of the UN system, in particular the leadership of the World Health Organization, in close cooperation with the UN regional commissions, in establishing, implementing and monitoring various aspects of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020. I recognize the commitment of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the International Labour Organization, among other entities, to supporting those efforts as well as that of the World Bank and regional development banks to implement road safety projects and programmes, in particular in developing countrie.  I hope that this historic resolution will encourage all Member States to promote multi-stakeholder partnerships. I point to my Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s anatomical simulation training techniques that aim to improve health workers’ skills to address the safety of vulnerable road users, the delivery of emergency care and first aid to victims of road traffic accidents. Notably, this must happen more aggressively in developing and least developed countries, and we must provide road traffic crash victims and their families with universal access to health care in the pre-hospital, hospital, post-hospital and rehabilitation and reintegration phases. In addition, I will do my part to raise funds to bring in the right equipment for road accident trauma training. I must particularly commend the leading role of Oman and the Russian Federation in drawing the attention of the international community to the global road safety crisis. And, I must congratulate the Member States that have taken a leadership role by adopting comprehensive legislation on key risk factors, including the non-use of seat belts, child restraints and helmets, the drinking of alcohol and driving, and speeding, and drawing attention to other risk factors, such as low visibility, medical conditions and medicines that affect safe driving, fatigue and the use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic and psychoactive substances, mobile phones and other electronic and texting devices. With the lessons learned from the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020, the Global Development Community recognises the need to promote an integrated approach to road safety such as a safe system approach and Vision Zero. We must pursue long-term and sustainable safety solutions, and strengthen national intersectoral collaboration, including engaging non-governmental organizations, civil society and academia, as well as businesses and industry, which contribute to and influence the social and economic development of countries. I hope that state and non-state actors and policy makers will commit to prevent road traffic injuries, while I appreciate the WHO and its Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus for its role in implementing the mandate conferred upon it by the General Assembly to act, in close cooperation with the UN regional commissions, as a coordinator on road safety issues within the UN system. Providing basic conditions and services to address road safety is primarily a responsibility of governments. This is especially in view of the decisive role that legislative bodies can play in the adoption of comprehensive and effective road safety policies and laws and their implementation. However I recognize nonetheless that there is a shared responsibility to move towards a world free from road traffic fatalities and serious injuries and that addressing road safety demands multi-stakeholder collaboration among the public and private sectors, academia, professional organizations, non-governmental organizations and the media. That is why I acknowledge that increasing road safety activities and advocating increased political commitment to road safety, will require working towards setting regional and national road traffic casualty reduction targets, elaborating global road safety-related legal instruments, including international conventions and agreements, technical standards, resolutions and good practice recommendations. It also requires domesticating and servicing 59 global and regional legal instruments that provide a commonly accepted legal and technical framework for the development of international road, rail, inland water and combined transport, to strengthen Nigeria's national road safety management capacity. As we approach the end of this Decade of Action for Road Safety, and start on the relevant road safety target dates set out in the 2030 Agenda, Nigeria must deepen national engagement with the new 2021-2030 time frame for a reduction in road traffic deaths and injuries. To push forward in the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety, with a goal of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50% from 2021 to 2030, I support the call upon Member States and stakeholders to continue action through 2030 on all the road safety-related targets of the SDGs, including target 3.6, in line with the pledge of the 2019 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development convened under the auspices of the General Assembly. We must especially take into account the remaining decade of action to deliver the SDGs by 2030 in their entirety.

Today is the day we have set our sights on for decades. Because of years of work by health workers on the ground, with the support and collaboration of international nonprofits, national and local governments, and with the weight of the world’s attention, we are able to celebrate this momentous achievement: Africa is wild polio-free.

I am overjoyed that today, thanks to 25 years of coordination and commitment by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO-AFRO), wild poliovirus no longer threatens our children and future generations of children across the African continent. The achievement is all the more remarkable as the result of an instrumental campaign to vaccinate children in Northern Nigeria, a region that is choked by terrorist extremist rule. As of today, Africa is the fifth of six global regions to be officially declared wild poliovirus-free; with cases of the virus now found only in the eastern Mediterranean region. This milestone has been achieved through successfully scaling up and sustaining the delivery of vaccines to children in the hardest-to-reach places throughout Africa.   My Wellbeing Foundation Africa has proudly supported the communities we work with to detect, interrupt, and eliminate the wild poliovirus, alongside our global and national partners. Our programmes give mothers access to information on the safety and importance of vaccines, and our Personal Health Records are now a necessity in order to empower them to make immunisation choices in the best interests of their children. Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of so many working to ensure polio vaccines reach the most remote corners of the world, more than 18 million children who would have faced polio paralysis in the past are walking freely towards healthy futures. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt health services, damage health systems and burden health workers, it is imperative that we come together globally, again, to address the public health challenges of the future. We must strengthen routine immunization programs in Nigeria, specifically to achieve full eradication of all forms of polio, including circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus, which remains prevalent in areas with weak or partial immunization coverage. To build on this enormous success, we must sustain our commitment to mass immunization campaigns, and we must do more to stop dangerous misinformation from spreading. Today marks a truly momentous milestone. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa offers our deepest congratulations and respect to the heroic health workers, community leaders, and volunteers who have contributed to this tremendous success. Congratulations, Africa!

The lived experience of Riskiat, the blue-eyed woman from Kwara state, underscores the need for economic empowerment to also tackle unconscious bias and gender discrimination.

  Riskiat Abdulazeez and her daughters grabbed headlines and pulled heartstrings in Kwara state last week when she spoke out with a distressing story about being abandoned by her husband and rejected by his family. The 30-year-old mother of two was left alone to afford food and education for her children, all because of a scepticism surrounding her distinctive pale blue eyes.  When I studied Riskiat’s story, what struck me was not just the unique (and beautiful) colour of the eyes: it was the fact that her life story is that of a typical woman in Nigeria—a story that so many of the United Nations’ goals and resolutions aims to target, support and empower.  She was a girl child who had every hope, but encountered every barrier.  [caption id="attachment_1183" align="alignnone" width="640"] Riskiat and her children accepting the donation from the Wellbeing Foundation Africa[/caption] As a child, Riskiat went to primary and secondary school, but didn’t sit her final examinations because her parents could not pay the fees, as she explained to PUNCHNG. Instead, her parents enrolled Riskiat in an apprenticeship, and following the apprenticeship, she worked in a shop where she met her husband, Abdulwasiu, in her early 20s.  After courting for a year, Riskiat and Abdulwasiu married, and Riskiat quickly gave birth to three children: five-year-old Kaosara and one set of twins, two-year-olds Hasanat Kehinde and Taiwo. The daughters, Kaosara and Hasanat Kehinde, inherited Riskiat’s distinct eye colour, while Taiwo, the son, had traditional brown eyes. The family lived together in Abdulwasiu’s family home, and Abdulwasiu, a vulcaniser, struggled to support the children’s diet and education, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic brought Nigeria to a halt. It is clear through Riskiat’s interview that Abdulwasiu’s family was distrustful of Riskiat already—but the trigger point that led to the family breakdown happened when the male twin, Taiwo, fell ill earlier this year. As Riskiat illustrates in PUNCHNG, the family could not financially support his care, and ultimately, Taiwo died from his illness. The grief and devastation eroded the family’s cohesion even further: distraught because of the loss of his son, poverty-stricken and pressured by his family’s scepticism about the fact that Riskiat and the blue-eyed daughters had survived, Abdulwasiu instructed Riskiat to move out of his parents’ home. “He told me that his parents said they could not live with children with blue eyes. My husband also said his parents told him to marry a woman that would produce children with normal eyes,” she told PUNCHNG. We have always known that unplanned point-of-care medical expenses can throw families into poverty, but Risikat’s story shows us the devastating effect that unavailability of medical coverage can wreak. It impacts lives negatively far beyond the original community coverage aims of health for all. What Riskiat has yet to experience is self-sustaining autonomy via her own economic empowerment. As a child she was barred from further education because her family could not afford the fees. As a young adult, she attempted to make a living for herself, but instead married young and then struggled to feed, educate and protect her family because she relied on her husband, who could not support them. At 30, Riskiat has fire